artifical pollination

• • Pollen taken from stamen of selected plants then transferred to stigma of selected plant
• 1. Pollen removed from staments of flower
• 2. Pollen dusted onto stigma of same plant (self pollination) or different plant (cross pollination)
• • Mechanical method– uses wind blower or small aircraft to spread pollen grains over a large area. Not precise as pollen grains dusted into air might not reach flower but fast and efficient
• • Hand– uses brush to transfer pollen grains from one flower to another which more precise but very time consuming
• • Increase in offspring with favourable traits to increase yield e.g crops
• • Produce plants with characteristics of 2 parents in cross pollination resulting new allele combinations increasing genetic diversity and further facilitating hybridisation between closely related species e.g triticale is hybrid of wheat and rye
• • Self pollination results in decreasing genetic diversity however if parent has heterozygous allele combination, may result in probability of offspring being genetically different
• • Aids in conservation of endangered species by increasing genetic diversity by allowing new allele combinations that would otherwise not be possible by natural means e.g separated by physical barriers
• • If performed at large scale by using the same 2 parent plants repeatedly will cause loss of genetic diversity in the next generation of offspring and future populations. If unfavourable change in environmental selection pressure occurs, mass loss of crops and mass economic loss for farmer