A note on the examination of genotypic ratios in domestic animals using incomplete family data

Abstract

During the last 10 years many genetical polymorphisms have been discovered in blood proteins. The phenotypes within each system have usually been found to be determined by a series of two of more alleles at a single locus and between which there is no dominance. A number of investigations have compared the fitness of heterozygotes and homozygotes at these loci. Apart from examining for possible associations between heterozygosity and traits for which selection is likely, such as production characters in domestic animals, these investigations have taken one of two forms; either family data have been examined for agreement with Mendelian ratios or else the genotypic numbers in a population have been examined for agreement with Hardy-Weinberg expectations.