Offspring is a very interesting subject to study. It is of interest to ordinary people, to breeders and those who are engaged in plants, for those studying the possibility of improving animals. The following article is devoted to the consideration of all this.
general information
Begin with a definition. Just to say one thing, characterizing this word is not an easy task. But worth a try:
- Offspring is a young (new) generation in relation to the older. For example, children and parents.
- Offspring is a concept that reflects heredity for a particular technique, manner of action, tradition, and the like.
It should be borne in mind that when using such a word, it is necessary to take into account the context in which it is used.
What is posterity from the point of view of breeders
To gain a competitive advantage, you must strive for better performance. For example, if the grain yield allows you to collect more centners per hectare, then you need to monitor the selection of the best seeds that give the maximum possible result. In this case, you can confidently look to the future. To better handle the subject of study, a number of concepts were introduced:
- A line (of plants / animals) is an outwardly homogeneous population whose uniformity is maintained through selection. Very often, this designation is applied to breeding material, which differs in a certain characteristic trait (or their group), provided that it remains for several generations. As a rule, most individuals of the line are distinguished by homozygosity for genes, on which the determining features depend. Although the presence of heterozygotes for other characteristics is not excluded, this applies in particular to quantitative parameters. Also, the term in question can be applied to specially derived varieties of plant groups that are used to produce hybrids.
- The clean line is the offspring that are the best. So called the most aligned breeding material. The individuals that belong to them are homogeneous both in phenotype and in genotype. A clean plant line is an offspring that acts as an exemplary seed.
Other points of view
You can often find situations where a slightly different meaning is embedded in this concept. For example, when they say about a certain unit of technology that it is a descendant of such and such a model and belongs to a specific family. For example, Windows 95 is the ancestor of 10, and together they represent the Microsoft product line. Modern products of ZAZ is a descendant of the "Cossack".
Also, offspring is a brood of animals received by residents of the agricultural area from their cattle. In some regions of our country, a similar designation can be heard in relation to children as continuers of a family string. As you can see, the concept of "offspring" can be used in a large number of different options.