All Free Veterinary Science MCQs with Answers

Every Veterinary Science question in the bank, across all chapters, each with the correct answer and a written explanation. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.

758 questions · page 2 of 38

  • A. 1 red:2 roan:1 white
  • B. 3 red:1 white
  • C. 1 red:1 roan
  • D. 2 roan:1 white

Explanation: Each roan parent produces R and W gametes in equal numbers. Their offspring are expected in the genotypic ratio RR:RW:WW of 1:2:1, giving…

Correct answer: 1 red:2 roan:1 white
  • A. Sex-linked trait
  • B. Sex-limited trait
  • C. Sex-influenced trait
  • D. Y-linked trait

Explanation: Sex-limited traits are controlled by genes present in both sexes but expressed in only one sex.

Correct answer: Sex-limited trait
  • A. Genetic drift
  • B. Inbreeding depression
  • C. Correlated response to selection
  • D. Phenotypic plasticity

Explanation: A correlated response occurs when selection for one trait changes another genetically correlated trait.

Correct answer: Correlated response to selection
  • A. Incomplete dominance
  • B. Pleiotropy
  • C. Linkage
  • D. Epistasis

Explanation: Epistasis is interaction between genes at different loci, where one locus affects the expression of another.

Correct answer: Epistasis
  • A. Unbalanced gametes during meiosis
  • B. Excessive mutation in somatic cells
  • C. Complete loss of all chromosomes
  • D. Permanent suppression of gene expression

Explanation: During meiosis, a translocation heterozygote may form gametes with duplicated or deleted chromosome segments.

Correct answer: Unbalanced gametes during meiosis
  • A. Simple phenotypic ranking
  • B. Best linear unbiased prediction
  • C. Random mating analysis
  • D. Microsatellite exclusion testing

Explanation: Best linear unbiased prediction, or BLUP, uses records from several sources while accounting for systematic environmental effects.

Correct answer: Best linear unbiased prediction
  • A. The sire's chromosome number
  • B. The calf's own genotype only
  • C. Maternal care and milk production
  • D. Random environmental mutation

Explanation: Maternal genes can affect traits such as weaning weight through milk yield, mothering ability, and the uterine environment.

Correct answer: Maternal care and milk production
  • A. The number of offspring per mating
  • B. Only the animal's visible phenotype
  • C. The average age of its herd
  • D. Genome-wide DNA marker information

Explanation: Genomic selection uses many DNA markers distributed across the genome to predict breeding values before extensive performance or progeny…

Correct answer: Genome-wide DNA marker information
  • A. Mating related animals
  • B. Mating unrelated animals
  • C. Randomly sampling sires
  • D. Crossing different breeds

Explanation: Related animals are more likely to carry copies of the same ancestral allele, so mating them increases homozygosity and the expression of…

Correct answer: Mating related animals
  • A. A neutral environmental effect
  • B. An antagonistic genetic correlation
  • C. A Mendelian segregation ratio
  • D. A chromosome counting error

Explanation: An antagonistic genetic correlation means improvement in one trait is genetically associated with deterioration in another.

Correct answer: An antagonistic genetic correlation
  • A. Additive effects only
  • B. Environmental effects only
  • C. Additive, dominance and epistatic effects
  • D. Maternal effects only

Explanation: Broad-sense heritability is the proportion of phenotypic variance due to total genetic variance.

Correct answer: Additive, dominance and epistatic effects
  • A. DNA replication
  • B. Protein synthesis
  • C. Fertilisation
  • D. Gamete formation

Explanation: The two alleles at a locus separate during meiosis, so each gamete normally receives one allele.

Correct answer: Gamete formation
  • A. Animals rank differently across environments
  • B. Genes change their DNA sequence in each environment
  • C. Environmental variance becomes zero
  • D. All animals show the same phenotype

Explanation: Genotype by environment interaction means genetic performance depends on the environment.

Correct answer: Animals rank differently across environments
  • A. A sex-linked trait
  • B. A polygenic trait
  • C. A monogenic trait
  • D. A mitochondrial trait

Explanation: Polygenic traits are influenced by many genes and usually show continuous variation, as seen in growth, milk yield and fertility.

Correct answer: A polygenic trait
  • A. Sire's sperm
  • B. Both parents equally
  • C. Dam's ovum
  • D. Male Y chromosome

Explanation: The ovum contributes most of the cytoplasm and mitochondria to the embryo, so mitochondrial genes are usually inherited maternally.

Correct answer: Dam's ovum
  • A. 25 percent
  • B. 50 percent
  • C. 75 percent
  • D. 100 percent

Explanation: Unlinked loci, or loci far apart on the same chromosome, can show a maximum recombination frequency of 50 percent.

Correct answer: 50 percent
  • A. Heterozygosity and performance
  • B. Homozygosity and performance
  • C. Mutation rate and fertility
  • D. Chromosome number and growth

Explanation: Inbreeding increases homozygosity and can expose harmful recessive alleles, reducing traits such as fertility, survival and growth.

Correct answer: Heterozygosity and performance
  • A. Close breeding
  • B. Outcrossing
  • C. Self-fertilisation
  • D. Linebreeding

Explanation: Outcrossing involves mating animals that are not closely related, often within the same breed, and helps maintain genetic variation.

Correct answer: Outcrossing
  • A. A very large effective size
  • B. High artificial selection only
  • C. A small effective size
  • D. Complete random mating only

Explanation: Genetic drift is random change in allele frequency and is strongest when the effective population size is small.

Correct answer: A small effective size
  • A. It estimates environmental temperature effects
  • B. It measures only the animal's physical size
  • C. It records only the number of offspring
  • D. It ranks animals using several sources of information

Explanation: A selection index combines information on several traits or records using economic and genetic relationships to rank animals for…

Correct answer: It ranks animals using several sources of information