Q.Define - Cross-breeding.

Jersey is an exotic (foreign-origin) cattle breed used mainly for crossbreeding to raise milk yield; the other three options are native Indian breeds.

Cattle breeds used in Indian animal husbandry are classified as:

• Indigenous (native) breeds - developed and bred within India, generally more disease-resistant and better adapted to local climate, e.g. Sahiwal, Gir, Red Sindhi (all excellent Indian milch breeds from Punjab/Haryana, Gujarat and Sindh-origin stock respectively). …

Correct answer: Mule.

The mule, produced by crossing a male donkey with a female horse, is the classic example of a sterile hybrid animal obtained by hybridisation between two closely related species/genera.

In animal breeding, hybridisation between different but related species (or, loosely, 'intergeneric' crosses as commonly described in this context) is used to combine desirable traits of both parents, such as the horse's strength/speed and the donkey's endurance and disease resistance. The resulting mule shows excelle …

Correct answer: (a) in-breeding

In-breeding is the mating of closely related individuals within the same breed to increase homozygosity.

In-breeding refers to the mating of closely related animals belonging to the same breed for several generations (e.g. between siblings, or between father-daughter/mother-son). It is practised in animal husbandry to increase homozygosity in a population, allowing the fixation of desirable traits and improving breed purity, though excessive in-breeding can also expose harmful recessive traits (inbreeding depression). Out-breeding is mating between unrelated individuals of the same breed; out-crossing is …