Question

How is plant hybridisation carried out?

Answer 1

Plant hybridisation is a time consuming process and is carried out between two plants of different species or between two varieties of the same species.

Two parent plants are selected of which one parent has the desired characters. On the female plant, emasculation is carried out i.e. stamens are removed to prevent undesirable fertilization. Then pollen of the male plant is collected and artificially brushed on stigma of emasculated flower. The emasculated flower is kept bagged before and after fertilization to prevent any unwanted cross pollination. After pollination, fertilization takes place and seeds of desired variety are produced.