Name: Marvana Westcarth

Lab#4

Analysis and Interpretation

Date: March 23, 2023

Title: Chi-Square Test

Aim: To determine whether observed results differ from those expected by applying a chi-

squared test.

Problem: In poultry, black feather coloured (B), is dominant to red (b), and a crested head (C), is

dominant to a plain comb (c). F1 birds, heterozygous for both traits, were put in a pen together to

mate and the new chickens were characterised as soon as their feathers were recognizable. There

were:

● 191 black crested head chickens

● 58 black plain combed chicken

● 61 red crested head chickens

● 10 red plain combed chickens

Results:

Genotype - BbCc

Phenotypes:

➔ Black feather + Crested head = BC

➔ Black feather + Plain comb = Bc

➔ Red feather + Crested head = bC

➔ Red feather + Plain comb = bc (recessive)

Gametes: BC, Bc, bC, bc

TABLE REPRESENTING A DIHYBRIDID CROSS WITH FOUR GAMETES: BLACK

FEATHER AND CREASED HEAD(BC), BLACK FEATHER AND PLAIN COMB(Bc), RED

FEATHER AND CRESTED HEAD(bC), RED FEATHER AND PLAIN COMB(bc)

X BC Bc bC bc

BC BBCC BBCc BbCC BbCc

Black feather Black feather Black feather Black feather
Crested head Crested head Crested head Crested head

Bc BBCc BBcc BbCc Bbcc

Black feather Black feather Black feather Black feather
Crested head Plain comb Crested head Plain comb

bC BbCC BbCc bbCC bbCc

Black feather Black feather Red feather Red feather
Crested head Crested head Crested head Crested head

bc BbCc Bbcc bbCc bbcc

Black feather Black feather Red feather Red feather
Crested head Plain comb Crested head Plain comb

Phenotypic Ratio: 9:3:3:1 x 320 or 3:1:1:1 x 320

Expected Frequecy:

9 Black feather + Crested head = BC

9
/16 x 320 = 180

3 Black feather + Plain comb = Bc

3
/16 x 320 = 60

3 Red feather + Crested head = bC

3
/16 x 320 = 60

1 Red feather + Plain comb = bc (recessive)

1
/16 x 320 = 20

Observed Frequency:

191 black crested head chickens

58 black plain combed chicken

61 red crested head chickens

∑ 10 red plain combed chickens

= 320 offspring
 TABLE REPRESENTING THE CHI-SQUARE TEST

X Black feather Black feather Red feather Red feather

Crested head Plain comb Crested head Plain comb

Observed 191 58 61 10
Frequency, O

Expected 180 60 60 20
Frequency, E

O−E 11 -2 1 -10

( O−E )2 121 4 1 100

¿¿
❑ 0.672 0.0667 0.0167 5

¿¿
∑ 0.672+0.0667 +0.0167+5

2
x =5.7554

Degree of freedom = # of phenotyper - 1

4−1=3

TABLE REPRESENTING THE P VALUES FOR CHI-SQUARE DISTRIBUTION OF

DEGREE OF FREEDOM THREE

df p Values for Chi-square x 2 Distribution

0.09 0.75 0.50 0.25 0.10 0.05 0.025 0.01

3 0.584 1.212 2.366 4.110 6.251 7.815 9.348 11.345

←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←←← →→→→→→→→→→→→
Left; accept null hypothesis Right; accept alternative
hypothesis
p value = 7.815 = 5.7754 < 7.815 ∴ accept null hypothesis

Discussion
The term "phenotype" describes a person's observable characteristics, such as height, eye color,

and blood type. Both a person's genomic make-up (genotype) and environmental circumstances

affect their phenotype. The type of variant present at a specific locus (i.e., locus) in the genome

is evaluated by what is known as a “genotype”. Symbols can be used to symbolize it. For

illustration, BB, Bb, and bb could be used to denote a certain gene variant. The phrase can also

be used to describe to the alleles, or different forms of a gene, that an organism carries in a more

specific meaning. In this experiment the phenotypes observed are chicken with black or red

feathers and combs that are either plain comb or crested head while the genotypes in the

experiment are BC, Bc, bC, bc. Homozygous and heterozygous are terms that are used to

describe allele pairs. Individuals carrying two identical alleles (CC or bb) are known as

homozygous. While individual organisms bearing different alleles (Bb) are known as

heterozygous. Recessive traits are those that only appear only when the genotype is homozygous;

they frequently go unnoticed by other inherited traits yet endure in a population with

heterozygous genotypes (bb or cc).

The results of the cross between chickens with black or red feathers and combs that are either

plain comb or crested head have genotype BbCc which showed a ratio of 9:3:3:1 ratio of

phenotypes in the offspring- 9 black feather and crested head : 3 black feather and plain comb : 3

red feather and crested head : 1 red feather and plain comb. The ratio is just a probability which

means we may or may not get the exact results. The chi-square test allows us to compare our

observed results with the expected results, and decide whether or not there is a significant

difference between them. Developing a null hypothesis is typically the first step in a statistical

test. The statistical test is then used to calculate the likelihood that the null hypothesis is accurate.

In this case, our null hypothesis would be: the observed results are not significantly different
from the expected results. In biology, we can accept the null hypothesis as true if our statistical

analysis indicates that the probability of it being true is equal to or higher than 0.05. Note that the

chi square test seeks to distinguish between two distinct possibilities and hence two contrasting

hypothesis: null and alternative. Null hypothesis being there is no significant difference between

observed and expected frequencies (i.e genes are unlinked) while alternative hypothesis meaning

there is a significant difference between observed and expected frequencies (i.e genes are

linked). The expected frequencies and observed frequencies at then recorded in the table. They

are then used to calculate the difference between observed and expected for each set of results,

and square eah difference. Divide each squared difference by the expected value and add up all

of these answers. The formula: x 2=∑ ¿¿ ; where ∑ is the sum of; O is the observed value;

E is the expected value. To work out what the x 2means a table that tells the probability that the

null hypothesis is correct is used to relate the chi-squared values to probabilities. For biological

data, a probability of 0.05 or 5% is take as being the critical one.It is reasonable to assume that

any differences between our observed and expected results could just be the result of chance and

are therefore not significant if our x 2 value indicates a probability of 0.05 or higher. It is likely

that the difference is significant, and we must reevaluate our assumptions about what was

happening in this cross, if our x 2 value indicates a likelihood smaller than this. The degrees of

freedom is another aspect which into account the number of comparisons made which is

calculated: number of class of data (phenotypes) minus 1. The third row in the x 2 value table

because that is the one for 3 degrees of freedom and then find the x 2 value that represents a

probability of 0.05 which in this case is 7.815. The calculated value of x 2 was 5.7754 which is

turn is smaller than what what was given on the table. This means the value is to the left given

that to accept null hypothesis. It can be stated that the difference between the observed and
expected results could well be due to chance and there is no significant difference between what

was expected and what was calculated based on the critical value.

Conclusion:

The value of x 2 is 5.7754 which falls below the p value of 7.815 so, the null hypothesis is

therefore accepted.