A cross between a spicy variety of Capsicum annum pepper and a sweet (nonspicy) variety produces  progeny plants that all have spicy peppers. The  are crossed, and among the  plants are 56 that produce spicy peppers and 20 that produce sweet peppers. Dr. Ara B. Dopsis, an expert on pepper plants, discovers a gene he designates Pun1 that he believes is responsible for spicy versus sweet flavor of peppers. Dr. Dopsis proposes that a dominant allele P produces spicy peppers and that a recessive mutant allele p results in sweet peppers.

Are the data on the parental cross and the F₁ and F₂ consistent with the proposal made by Dr. Dopsis? Explain why or why not, using P and p to indicate probable genotypes of pepper plants.