When crossing individuals differing in two or more pairs of alternative traits, the inheritance of each pair of traits occurs independently of the others, which leads to the emergence of new combinations of traits in the offspring. In diheterozygous crossing (when two pairs of characters are considered), a cleavage by phenotype is observed in the ratio of 9:3:3:1. This means that: 9/16 of the offspring have both dominant traits, 3/16 – dominant trait for the first gene and recessive for the second, 3/16 – recessive for the first gene and dominant for the second, 1/16 – both recessive traits.