About Lesson
Inbreeding depression
- Inbreeding or consanguineous mating is mating between individuals related by descent or ancestry.
- The degree of inbreeding of an individual is expressed as inbreeding coefficient (F).
- When the individuals are closely related, e.g., in brother-sister mating or sib mating, the degree of inbreeding is high.
- Inbreeding depression may be defined as the reduction or loss in vigour and fertility as a result of inbreeding.
- Inbreeding depression = F1-F2 / F1 x 100
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Effects of inbreeding
- Appearance of Lethal and Sublethal Alleles :
- IB results in appearance of lethal; sublethal and sub vital characters.
- Eg : Chlorophyll deficiencies, rootless seedlings, flower deformities – They do not survive, they lost in population.
- Reduction in vigor :
- General reduction in vigor size of various plant parts.
- Reduction in Reproductive ability :
- Reproductive ability of population decreases rapidly.
- Many lines reproduce purely that they cannot be maintained.
- Separation of the population into distinct lines :
- Population rapidly separates into distinct lines i.e. due to increase in homozygosity.
- This leads to random fixation of alleles in different lines.
- Therefore, lines differ in genotype and phenotype. It leads to increase in the variance of the population.
- Increase in homozygosity :
- Each lines becomes homozygous.
- Therefore, variation within a line decreases rapidly. After 7-8 generations of selfing the line becomes more than 99% homozygous. These are the inbreds. These have to be maintained by selfing.
- Reduction in yield :
- IB leads to loss in yield.
- The inbreds that survive and maintained have much less yield than the open pollinated variety from which they have been developed.