Mendels Law of Independent Assortment - The third law states that Alleles for different traits are distributed to sex cells (offspring) independently of one another.

Mendel noticed during all his work that the height (tall or short), of the plant and the shape (round or wrinkled) of the seeds and the colour (green or yellow), of the pods had no impact on one another.

In other words, being tall did not automatically mean that the plants had to have green pods, nor did green pods have to be filled only with wrinkled seeds, the different traits seem to be inherited independently.

It involves what is known as a dihybrid cross, meaning that the parents are hybrid for two different traits.

So, as can be seen from the results, a green pod can have round or wrinkled seeds, and the same is true of a yellow pod.

The different traits do not influence the inheritance of each other. They are inherited independently.

Interesting to note is that if we consider one trait at a time, we get the usual 3: 1 ratio of a single hybrid cross (like we did for the Law of Segregation).

For example, let us compare the colour trait in the offspring; 12 green and 4 yellow (3: 1 dominant recessive) and the same for the seed texture 12 round and 4 wrinkled (3: 1 ratio). The traits are inherited independently of each other.