Benchmarks in testing for identical traits: The example of milky
What color is that? A satisfactory answer requires that the
questioner and the potential respondent have common standards. If
someone asks about the length of an object, he can use the length of
the original meter as a guide. If we want to know whether something
is milky, we also need a fixed point for comparison. Both when
referring to the hereditary factor and when it comes to a variant
with the Milky factor, for example lavender from the Lahore and
Mookee or barred Milky from the Fantails.
Lahore lavender and milky Fantail with Bars
Mookee lavender (silver in German)
Most of the answers at the opening question will be based on
similarity, whereby memories can be deceptive and prior information
can be wrong. Inheritance tests are more reliable. Milky's
inheritance behavior is recessive and not sex-linked. If pairings
with other colors show that the factor is inherited as dominant or
sex-linked, then it is not Milky. If the factor is recessive and not
sex-linked, it can be Milky. For a direct test, however, you need
the correct benchmark. This lies with Indian Fantails, Mookee and
the Lahore, which also comes from Asia.
There is no test in the exhibition sector of fancy breeds. Of the
many colors recognized under the name Milky, there are certainly
some that genetically belong to a different category. This does not
even mean the heterozygous ashes that are occasionally presented as
Milky and sometimes as Andalusians. It affects different high-flying
breeds and also color racing pigeons.
Agarantumbler,
Vienna
Gansel
Steller Cropper
Highflyer cross with milky-like lightening
For the test: In a first pairing of two Milky from different lines,
if they are identical, milky-colored young animals should be raised,
be it self lavendr, barred or checked. If we get blue or black
instead, it is not the same factor. This happened at our own cross
between a lavender Mookee and a South German Blasse, presumed to be
barred Milky. The recessive and non sex-linkage was already known
from previous information in the population of Blasse.
Source: Sell, Pigeon Genetics 2012
If there are similar colors as the parents, one will assume the same
genetic factor. As with intermediate types, it can also be alleles.
These are alternative factors at the same gene location with
different effects. Not unique, because you know that from other
genes, such as the stipper gene and faded.
However, there are pitfalls in the investigation. There are examples
of unexpected interactions between genes that are not alleles. It
can also take a lot of effort to separate the thesis of identity
from that of alleles. Milky can also be combined with many genes. If
Milky and Ash Red appear in combination, then this combination will
first demonstrate a sex-linked dominant inheritance by the dominant
red. However, this combination will break up again in the next
generation and refute conclusions drawn in the meantime.
Milky first came to Europe with Fantails, Mookee and Lahore. It is
interesting to see that even before 1900 Swift Pigeons found their
way into a collection in Braunschweig and that Schachtzabel in 1910
depicts an individual in the group of the Show Homer in a not
identical, but similar color. From today's perspective, the white
laced Lynx Pigeons and Bronze-laced Modena, which can also be
classified from outside the cage as milky, are interesting additions
to the spectrum of pigeon colors.
Milky-like Swift from the Natural-Historical Museum Braunschweig,
dated with 1885, and a Lynx considered milky blue white-laced
Modena, from the phenoptype milky bronze-laced and milky bronze-bar
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