What does Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment state?

Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment states that each trait is inherited independently of other traits. This principle is based on Mendel's experiments with pea plants, where he observed that the inheritance of one trait, such as seed color, did not affect the inheritance of another trait, such as plant height.

Independent assortment occurs during the formation of gametes when the alleles for different genes segregate independently from one another. This means that the combination of traits in the offspring is a result of random assortment of maternal and paternal alleles, which contributes to genetic variation within populations.

The other options do not accurately reflect Mendel's findings. The blending of traits (as mentioned in one of the other choices) is a concept that contradicts Mendelian genetics, as traits are inherited as discrete units rather than blending. The statement regarding all genes on a chromosome being inherited together relates to linkage, which occurs when genes are located close together on the same chromosome, and thus do not assort independently. Lastly, while recessive traits are masked by dominant traits in a heterozygous condition, this is more accurately described in the context of dominance and recessiveness rather than independent assortment.