Our Objective

To perform emasculation, bagging and tagging for controlled pollination.

The Theory

Pollination

Plants reproduce through the act of pollination, which involves moving pollen grains from the anthers to the stigmas of their flowers. Two types of pollination can be categorised, they are cross-pollination and self-pollination.

For pollination to be successful, stigma and pollen need to get along with one another. If pollen grains are not compatible with the environment, they may be rejected. This is an undesirable situation, especially when it comes to the production of commercial crops. This led to the development of artificial hybridization.

Artificial Hybridization

For proper pollination and fertilisation of plants, pollen and stigma compatibility is essential. The process of fertilisation can start after compatible pollen is received by the pistil; incompatible pollen will be rejected. Long-term pollen-pistil interaction, as well as chemicals released by pollen, are responsible for this interaction in which a pistil can recognise its pollen.

Steps in Artificial Hybridization

Selection of parents
Emasculation
Bagging
Collection of pollen from male parent
Dusting the pollen grain on stigma
Re-bagging

If the female parent bears bisexual flowers, removal of anthers from the flower bud before the anther dehisces, using a pair of forceps or scissors, is necessary.
This step is referred as emasculation.
Emasculated flowers must be covered with a plastic bag of suitable size with minute pores, to prevent contamination of its stigma with unwanted pollen.
This process is called bagging.
When the stigma of bagged flower attains receptivity, mature pollen grains collected from anthers of the male parent are dusted on the stigma.
Then the flowers are re-bagged, and the fruits are allowed to develop.

Learning Outcomes

Students understand about pollination.
Students understand about artificial hybridization.
Students come to know about the steps involved in artificial hybridization.