Question

a student conducted an experiment by crossing a pea plant homozygous for purple flowers with a pea plant homozygous for white flowers. he randomly collected 100 healthy seeds from the cross, planted them, and provided equal amounts of water and sunlight to each plant. in the flowering season, the student observed that all the plants bore purple - colored flowers.
which hypothesis was most likely tested by this experiment?
○ if two parents each homozygous for contrasting characteristics are crossed, all the offspring will express the dominant characteristic.
○ if two parents each homozygous for contrasting characteristics are crossed, none of the seeds produced will be healthy.
○ if two parents each homozygous for contrasting characteristics are crossed, the offspring will only reproduce by self - pollination.
○ if two parents each homozygous for contrasting characteristics are crossed, the characteristic expressed by the offspring will depend on the amount of water and sunlight received.

Explanation:

This experiment involves crossing pea plants with different flower - color traits (purple and white). In genetics, when two homozygous parents for contrasting characteristics (like flower color) are crossed, the offspring will express the dominant characteristic. Here, all the offspring showed purple flowers (the dominant trait if we assume purple is dominant over white in this context).

Answer:

If two parents each homozygous for contrasting characteristics are crossed, all the offspring will express the dominant characteristic.