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How No. Inheritance Works In Swine
* * Protected Under 18 U.S.C. 707
Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources In order to produce the best animals possible in a livestock operation, we must give them the best environment feasible (nutrition, housing, management) and improve the genetic quality of the animal. However, to do this, we must understand how inheritance works.
Resemblance Between Relatives
As early as the 1700's, successful livestock breeders observed that the more desirable animals in their herds generally produced offspring that were better, and less desirable animals produced offspring that were not as desirable. This superiority or inferiority was passed from parent to offspring. However, what was actually passed was not discovered for a number of years. First, it was found that the bodies of all animals were made of millions of microscopic cells. These cells have two major parts: cytoplasm and nucleus (nucleus being the center of the cell). Eventually scientists figured out what was physically passed from parent to offspring were parts of the nucleus called "chromosomes." These chromosomes were then discovered to have many nucleotides (combination of a phosphate, sugar, and nitrogenous base) a...
Swine18-how_inheritance_works