Question

Describe the procedure of hybridization in plants.

Answer 1

The hybridisation aims to produce a new hybrid organisms/plant by combining desirable genes or characters found in two or more different varieties and forming a pure-breeding offspring progeny superior in many respects to the parental types.

Complete answer:
The steps involved in hybridisation are:
Evaluation of Parent: The parent should be well adapted to all types of climate and weather condition in a particular area or location. Before hybridisation needs to check whether they are susceptible to new races of the pathogens occurring in the area.
Selection of Parents: The selection will depend upon that all the desirable characters are present in either of the parents.
Emasculation: It is a process of removal of stamens or anthers without destroying the female reproductive organs. This will prevent self-fertilization and prevent the pollination with the undesirable male.
Bagging: Immediately after emasculation, the bagging is done to emasculate flowers with the help of the bag. Most preferably is butter paper or plastic bag with appropriate size. This is done to prevent the contamination of stigma of these flowers with unwanted pollen grains. Bagging also is done for male flowers, this will maintain the purity of pollen that is used in the process of hybridisation.
Tagging: After the process of emasculation and bagging the flower is tagged. The size of the tag varies. Mostly circular tags are used. The tagging involved certain information such as –
Date of emasculation
Name of female donor and male donor – the name of a female donor is written first and then that of a male donor.
Other information whatever required.
Pollination: It is transferring mature pollen grain onto the stigma of the flower which leads to the fertilization. In the hybridisation process, the pollination is done when pollen should be viable and stigma should be receptive. To conduct the pollination, collect the fresh pollen from dehisced anthers of the male parents, and then gently dust the pollen onto the stigma of the emasculated flowers. There are many other techniques by which pollen can dust onto the stigma or the mating of male and female gametes.
Harvesting and storing: The crossed pods are harvest and threshing. The seeds from each cross should be kept separately along with tags. Hybrids seeds would not mix with other seeds. Before storage the seeds should be dried properly, improper drying leads to damage (rotting or attack by the insect or pest) to the seeds.

Note: The emasculation can be done by using different techniques. They are as follows -
Hand emasculation
Suction method
Hot water emasculation
Alcohol treatment
Cold treatment
Genetic emasculation