Selective Breeding

Selective breeding - the intentional breeding of individuals with desired characteristics. It passes on selected and desirable traits in both plants and animals. Also known as 'artificial selection', as human choice provided the selection pressure rather than changes in the environment

How is selective breeding carried out

• Organisms with desired characteristics are selected and bred together
• This process is repeated until the offspring have the desired characteristics

Transgenic - contains a gene from a %%different%% species

Advantages of PLANTS selective breeding:

• Resistance to diseases/pest damage
• %%Higher crop yield%%
• Create new varieties of crops
• Resistance to extreme weather
• Produce %%larger%% and better tasting fruits that grow quicker

Disadvantages of selective breeding

• Can cause inbreeding
• Reduction of the %%gene pool a%%s the number of different alleles reduce
• More vulnerable to diseases
• Greater chance of %%inheriting genetic defects%% in offspring as recessive characteristics are more likely to be present
• Slow process
• Can lead to a loss of traits