Question

Mention the advantages of selecting the pea plant for the experiment by Mendel.

Answer 1

Mendel selected pea plants to carry out his study on the inheritance of characters from parents to offspring.

He selected a pea plant because of the following features.

1. Peas have many visible contrasting characters, such as tall/dwarf plants, round/wrinkled seeds, green/yellow pods, purple/white flowers, etc.
2. Peas have bisexual flowers and therefore undergo self-pollination easily. Thus, pea plants produce offspring with the same traits generation after generation.
3. In pea plants, cross-pollination can be easily achieved by emasculation, in which the stamen of the flower is removed without affecting the pistil.
4. Pea plants have a short life span and produce many seeds in one generation.
5. Because of self-fertilisation, plants are homozygous. It is, therefore, easy to get pure lines for several generations.