BIOLOGY

PROJECT
INVESTIGATIORY PROJECT AS
PER
AISSCE SESSION 2021-22

POLLINATION
GUIDED BY: SIMI.C.NAIR

NAME : DARSHAN.K.M.
CLASS : XII B
ROLL NO: 10
SESSION : 2021-2022

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that name of the
student, a student DARSHAN.K.M. of class
12th B has successfully completed the
research on the mentioned project under
the guidance of Subject Teacher SIMI.C.NAIR
during the year in partial fulfillment of
Biology practical of session 2021-22
examination conducted by CBSE, New Delhi.

Signature of student…………….

External examiner ………………..

Internal
examiner……………..
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In the accomplishment of this
project successfully, many people have best owned
upon me their blessings and the heart pledged
support, this time I am utilizing to thank all the
people who have been concerned with project.
Primarily I would thank god for being able to
complete this project with success. Then I would like
to thank my biology faculty SIMI.C.NAIR, whose
valuable guidance has been the ones that helped
me patch this project and make it full proof success.
Her suggestions and her instructions have served as
the major contributor towards the completion of the
project. Last but not the least I would like to thank
my parents and friends who have helped me with
their valuable suggestions and guidance has been
helpful in various phases of the completion of the
project.

DARSHAN.K.M.
 INTRODUCTION
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred to the female
reproductive organs of a plant, thereby enabling fertilization to take place. Like
all living organisms, seed plants have a single major purpose: to pass their
genetic information on to the next generation. The reproductive unit is the
seed, and pollination is an essential step in the production of seeds in all
spermatophytes (seed plants).For the process of pollination to be successful, a
pollen grain produced by the anther, the male part of a flower, must be
transferred to a stigma, the female part of the flower, of a plant of the same
species. The process is rather different in angiosperms (flowering plants) from
what it is in gymnosperms (other seed plants). In angiosperms, after the pollen
grain has landed on the stigma, it creates a pollen tube which grows down the
style until it reaches the ovary. Sperm cells from the pollen grain then move
along the pollen tube, enter the egg cell through the micropyle and fertilise it,
resulting in the production of a seed.

A successful angiosperm pollen grain (gametophyte) containing the male gametes

is transported to the stigma, where it germinates and its pollen tube grows
down the style to the ovary. Its two gametes travel down the tube to where the
gametophyte(s) containing the female gametes are held within the carpel. One
nucleus fuses with the polar bodies to produce the endosperm tissues, and the
other with the ovule to produce the embryo Hence the term: "double
fertilization".

In gymnosperms, the ovule is not contained in a carpel, but exposed on the

surface of a dedicated support organ, such as the scale of a cone, so that the
penetration of carpel tissue is unnecessary. Details of the process vary
according to the division of gymnosperms in question. Two main modes of
fertilization are found in gymnosperms. Cycads and Ginkgo have motile sperm
that swim directly to the egg inside the ovule, whereas conifers and
gnetophytes have sperm that are unable to swim but are conveyed to the egg
along a pollen tube.

The study of pollination brings together many disciplines, such as botany,

horticulture, entomology, and ecology. The pollination process as an interaction
between flower and pollen vector was first addressed in the 18th century by
Christian Konrad Sprengel. It is important in horticulture and agriculture,
because fruiting is dependent on fertilization: the result of pollination. The
study of pollination by insects is known as anthecology.

»» PROCESS
Pollen germination has three stages; hydration, activation and pollen tube
emergence. The pollen grain is severely dehydrated so that its mass is reduced
enabling it to be more easily transported from flower to flower. Germination
only takes place after rehydration, ensuring that premature germination does
not take place in the anther. Hydration allows the plasma membrane of the
pollen grain to reform into its normal bilayer organization providing an effective
osmotic membrane. Activation involves the development of actin filaments
throughout the cytoplasm of the cell, which eventually become concentrated at
the point from which the pollen tube will emerge. Hydration and activation
continue as the pollen tube begins to grow.

In conifers, the reproductive structures are borne on cones. The cones are
either pollen cones (male) or ovulate cones (female), but some species are
monoecious and others dioecious. A pollen cone contains hundreds of
microsporangia carried on (or borne on) reproductive structures called
sporophylls. Spore mother cells in the microsporangia divide by meiosis to form
haploid microspores that develop further by two mitotic divisions into immature
male gametophytes (pollen grains). The four resulting cells consist of a large
tube cell that forms the pollen tube, a generative cell that will produce two
sperm by mitosis, and two prothallial cells that degenerate. These cells comprise
a very reduced microgametophyte, that is contained within the resistant wall of
the pollen grain.

The pollen grains are dispersed by the wind to the female, ovulate cone that is
made up of many overlapping scales (sporophylls, and thus megasporophylls),
each protecting two ovules, each of which consists of a megasporangium (the
nucellus) wrapped in two layers of tissue, the integument and the cupule, that
were derived from highly modified branches of ancestral gymnosperms. When a
pollen grain lands close enough to the tip of an ovule, it is drawn in through the
micropyle ( a pore in the integuments covering the tip of the ovule) often by
means of a drop of liquid known as a pollination drop. The pollen enters a pollen
chamber close to the nucellus, and there it may wait for a year before it
germinates and forms a pollen tube that grows through the wall of the
megasporangium (=nucellus) where fertilisation takes place. During this time,
the megaspore mother cell divides by meiosis to form four haploid cells, three
of which degenerate. The surviving one develops as a megaspore and divides
repeatedly to form an immature female gametophyte (egg sac). Two or three
archegonia containing an egg then develop inside the gametophyte. Meanwhile, in
the spring of the second year two sperm cells are produced by mitosis of the
body cell of the male gametophyte. The pollen tube elongates and pierces and
grows through the megasporangium wall and delivers the sperm cells to the
female gametophyte inside. Fertilisation takes place when the nucleus of one of
the sperm cells enters the egg cell in the megagametophyte’s archegonium.

In flowering plants, the anthers of the flower produce microspores by meiosis.

These undergo mitosis to form male gametophytes, each of which contains two
haploid cells. Meanwhile, the ovules produce megaspores by meiosis, further
division of these form the female gametophytes, which are very strongly
reduced, each consisting only of a few cells, one of which is the egg. When a
pollen grain adheres to the stigma of a carpel it germinates, developing a pollen
tube that grows through the tissues of the style, entering the ovule through
the micropyle. When the tube reaches the egg sac, two sperm cells pass through
it into the female gametophyte and fertilisation takes place.

POLLEN TUBE GROWTH

FERTILIZATION
TYPES OF POLLINATION
»» Depending on the source of pollen, pollination can be classified into 2 types
–

Self-pollination and Cross Pollination (Xenogamy). Self Pollination is further

divided into Autogamy and Geitonogamy. Depending on agent of Pollination,
pollination can be classified into abiotic pollination and biotic pollination.

 Self Pollination is the type of Pollination in which pollen grains are

transferred from anther to the stigma of the same flower (Autogamy) or
pollen grains are transferred from anther to the stigma of different
flower of the same plant (Geitonogamy).

 Cross Pollination or Xenogamy is the type of pollination in which pollen

grains are transferred from anther to the stigma of a different plant.
There are 2 types of pollination:
Autogamy
 Transfer of pollen grains from anther to stigma of the same flower
 Seen in plants which produce Chasmogamous & Cleistogamous flowers

Chasmogamous flowers

 Exposed anther & stigma

Cleistogamous flowers

 Closed flower
 Anther & stigma lie very close to each other
 Example: Viola, polygala

Geitonogamy

 Transfer of pollen grains from anther to stigma of another flower of

same plant
 It is functionally cross-pollination, but genetically self-pollination

Xenogamy

 Transfer of pollen grains from anther to stigma of a different plant

 Genetically as well as functionally cross-pollination
Pollinating agents

 Agents which carry pollen grains from anther to stigma of

same/different plant are termed as Pollinating agents.
 They are of 2 types:

Biotic agents
 Living organisms which act as agents of pollination
 Insects, Birds

Abiotic agents
 Non-living objects which act as agents of pollination
 Pollination occurs by chance
 Wind, water

Pollination by Wind
 Pollen grains are carried by wind from anther to stigma. Wind pollination
is very commonly seen in grasses.
 Characteristics of a plant pollinated by wind are:
1. Light pollen grains
2. Non-sticky pollen grains
3. Well-exposed stamens
4. Large, feathery stigma

Pollination by Water
 This is a less common mode of pollination. Water pollination can occur in a
number of ways:
  Water acts as a medium for gamete transfer in lower plants. Example:
bryophytes
 Female flowers reach the water surface by a stalk where male gametes
were already released. Example: Vallisneria
 Male gametes are released inside water where flowers remain. Example:
Seagrass
 In water pollination, pollen grains are prevented from being wet by a
mucilaginous covering.

Pollination by Insects
 Bees are the most common biotic pollinating agent.
 Not only insects, but some of the animals like rats, lizards, bats also help
in pollination. Plants are specially adapted based on their pollinators.
 Therefore, not just any animal/ insect can pollinate a plant.
 Some of the factors that attract insects are attractive color of the
flower, fragrance and nectar. In some cases, the insect & the plant
exhibit a mutual relationship.
 For example, the Yucca-moth relationship is a mutual one.
 The insect Moth helps in pollinating the Yucca flower, whereas the flower
provides a space in its locule for the moth to lay eggs.
 The larvae feed on the yucca seed within the fruit.

Pollen-Pistil interaction
 The pollen landing on stigma of pistil might be compatible or incompatible
with the stigma.
 Therefore the acceptance or rejection of the pollen by stigma depends
on the compatibility.
 If the pollen & pistil are compatible with each other, following events will
take place:
 Pistil accepts pollen
  Formation of pollen tube
 Pollen tube reaches ovary
 Pollen grains move into pollen tube
 Pollen tube enters ovule through micropyle
 Pollen tube enters a synergid through filiform apparatus
 Fertilization occurs

On the other hand, If the pollen & pistil are incompatible with each other,
following events will take place:

 Pistil rejects pollen

 Prevents pollen tube growth
 Prevents fertilization
 Therefore, Pollen-Pistil interaction can be defined as follows:

 Pollen-pistil interaction is a dynamic process of pollen recognition

followed by promotion or inhibition of the pollen.

 Chemical components of the pollen interact with those of the pistil.

Artificial Hybridization
 Knowledge on Pollen-pistil interaction helps in crossing different species/
genera to produce commercially superior varieties, the technique we now
know as Artificial Hybridization.
 Artificial hybridization is the process in which only desired pollen grains
are used for pollination & fertilization.
 Artificial hybridization is achieved using the following techniques:

Emasculation
  Removal of anthers from bisexual flowers of female parent plant
 This is done before anthers mature
 Prevents self-pollination

Bagging
 Covering the emasculated flower to prevent contamination
 Prevents contamination with unwanted pollen
 Desired pollen grains are dusted on stigma
 Flowers are bagged again