The mean weight of pumpkins in a pumpkin patch is 10 lbs. From this population a group of pumpkins, all weighing 15 lbs, were selected for breeding purposes. In the resulting offspring, it was noted that the average pumpkin weight was 12 lbs. What is the narrow-sense heritability of pumpkin weight in this population

0.4

Explanation:

Narrow sense heritability is a form of heritability (the other one is broad sense) that is used to describe the percentage of trait variance that is caused as a result of additive genetic factors. It is represented as h² = Va / Vp

Where Va = additive genetic variance

Vp = phenotypic variance

In this case, to get the narrow-sense heritability of pumpkin weight in this population

We have the following

mean weight of original pumpkin patch = 10lbs

weight of a group of original pumpkin = 15lbs

the average weight of offspring pumpkin = 12lbs

Hence we have h² = Va / Vp

= (12 - 10) ÷ (15 ÷ 10)

= 0.4