Author:
Kristi Prohm

Date of Publication:
March 22, 2019

Publication:
The Better Breeding Blog

Excerpt:
Mating two superior animals together does improve your chance of producing superior offspring, but because of the completely random nature of gene assortment  there is no way to predict which particular combination of genes will end up in which gamete. There is no way to control which egg is fertilised by which sperm, and ultimately chance and even luck still factor in the genome you are dealt. Some gamete combinations may be so detrimental that the embryo dies very early on. Two animals who together produced a superb animal may never do so again, but at the same time a disappointing mating outcome doesn’t mean future ones will be.

So yes, there absolutely is a lot of randomness in genetic inheritance — far, far more than you may have thought. It is important to be aware of this randomness, and how, because of it, you do not have as much control over your breeding as you may think. But this is a blog about better breeding, and just knowing what you can’t control is a big step on the way to being a better breeder. We will be going deeper and deeper in our understanding, covering genes, statistics and selection strategies along the way.

Read the rest of the article: https://betterbreeding.solutions/index.php/blog/just-how-random-is-genetic-inheritance