Question

Explain 'cross-breeding' with specific examples.

Answer 1

Hint:Crossbreeding is defined as the breeding of two individuals of two different breeds from the same species to get a progeny with more superior traits than the parents. The traits are desirable and these traits are obtained based on the requirement.

Complete step by step answer:Crossbreeding leads to desirable traits and cross is between the parents of superior breeds to get better results. The hybrid or breed obtained can serve several purposes as per the requirement after breeding. It is usually done by breeders to obtain traits that enhance the biological fitness of the animals. Crossbreeding is done mostly in animals that have mostly domestic importance in cattle, sheep, goats, and to some extent in dogs, cats, and horses.
What does crossbreeding cause?
It creates new combinations of genes in crossbred animals.
Animals that are cross-bred have increased heterozygosity i.e., more dissimilar pairs of genes having different combinations.
Hybrid vigor forms the basis of heterozygosity in crossbred animals.
The disadvantage of cross-breeding includes that the progeny obtained after breeding also has bad characteristics of the breeds from which they are descended. For example, they have a weakness of the breeds.
The advantage of cross-breeding includes it helps to get more desirable characteristics such as growth rate, better milk production, increased efficiency and bullock power, etc.
The best example of cross-breeding is seen in the case of cattle. Many crossbred cattle are developed in India by various institutes.
Examples include Frieswal which is a cross between Native cattle Sahiwal and Exotic cattle Holstein Friesian. It is developed by ICAR, Meerut.
There are many examples of cross-breeding. Another example being cross-bred of pig obtained by Crossbreeding Yorkshire and Duroc breeds of pigs.

Note:Crossbreeding is widely used nowadays in developing more superior animals to get more desirable traits in animals. Various organizations in India such as ICAR, GADVASU, etc are working on developing more breeds of different animals to get established to the changing environment and adapt to various changes in India.