Acknowledgement

I would like to express my heartiest

gratitude to our Principal Sir Sh. K.K. Rudra,
who gave me the golden opportunity to do
this project in Biology. It would be my utmost
pleasure to express my sincere thanks to My
Biology Teacher Sh. N.K. Mondal for providing
a helping hand in this project. His valuable
guidance, support and supervision all through
this project titled “Pollination”, are
responsible for attaining its present form. It
should also be disclosed that resources
available on the internet helped me in doing a
lot of research, thereby increasing my
knowledge manifold.

At last, my heartfelt thanks goes to my

parents and friends who helped me a lot in
finalising this project within the limited time
frame.
What’s the Pollination?
The process by which plant pollen is
transferred from the male
reproductive organs to the female
reproductive organs to form seeds. In
flowering plants, pollen is transferred
from the anther to the stigma, often
by the wind, water or by insects.
Importance of Pollination:-
 Helps in the maintenance of plant
diversity.
 Develop adequate fruits to entice seed
dispersers.
 Pollination produces variable offspring,
creating diversity and variation among
populations.
 Helps maintain “balance” of ecological
systems by supporting a diversity of
plant species.
 Variation is strictly required for
evolution and natural selection.
 It is more advantageous to an organism
only if it happens with someone other
than itself.
Types of pollination:-
 Self Pollination:
 Self-pollination takes place when the
pollen from one flower pollinates the
same flower or other flowers of the
same individual.
 Autogamy
 Geitonogamy
Examples :Rice, Wheat, Tomato, Potato,
etc.
 Autogamy
 It is a type of self pollination where
fusion of two gametes occur that come
from one individual.
Autogamy occurs by 2 methods :
 Homogamy :The anthers and stigmas of
chasmogamous or open flowers are
brought together by growth, bending or
folding.
 Cleistogamy : In cleistogamous flowers,
the anthers dehisce inside closed
flowers. Growth of style brings the
pollen grains in contact with stigma.
Pollination and seed set are assured.
Pollinators are not required.
 Geitonogamy
 It is a type of pollination in which pollen
grains of one flower are transferred to
the stigma of another flower belonging
to either the same plant or genetically
similar plant.
 In geitonogamy, the flowers often show
modifications similar to ones found in
xenogamy or cross pollination.
Importance of Self-Pollination:-
Advantages Disadvantages
 It maintains the  New useful characters
parental characters or are seldom introduced.
purity of the race  Vigour and vitality of
indefinitely. the race decreases with
 Self pollination is prolonged self-
used to maintain pure pollination.
lines for hybridisation  Immunity to diseases
experiments. decreases.
 The plant does not  Adaptability to
need to produce large changed environment
number of pollen are reduced.
grains.
 Flowers do not
develop devices for
attracting insect
pollinators.
 Cross Pollination(Xenogamy):
 Cross pollination is the transfer of pollen
grains from the anther of one flower to
the stigma of a genetically different
flower.
 Here, in Greek xenos means stranger,
gamos means marriage
 Cross pollination is performed with the
help of an external agency.
 Abiotic Pollination
 Biotic Pollination
 Abiotic Pollination
 Anemophily
 It is a mode of cross pollination or
transfer of pollen grains through the
agency of wind.
 Example: Coconut Palm, Date Palm,
Maize, many grasses, Cannabis.

Characteristics:
 The flowers are colourless, odourless
and nectarless.
 Pollen grains are light, small and winged
or dusty, dry smooth, non-sticky and
unwettable.
 Stigma is hairy, feathery or branched to
catch the wind-borne pollen grains.
 Pollen grains are produced in very large
number.
 Hydrophily
 It is the mode of pollination or transfer
of pollen grains through the agency of
water.
 Example: Zostera , Vallisneria.

Characteristics:
 Flowers are small and inconspicuous.
 Nectar and odour are absent.
 Pollen grains are light and unwettable
due to presence of mucilaginous
covering.
 Stigma is long, sticky but unwettable.
 Biotic Pollination
 Entomophily
 The pollen grains are transferred to a
mature stigma through the agency of
insects like moths, butterflies, wasps,
bees, beetles, etc.
 Example: Night Jasmine, Orchids.

Characteristics:
 They are showy or brightly coloured.
 Most insect pollinated flowers have a
landing platform.
 The pollen grains are spiny, heavy and
surrounded by a yellow oily sticky
substance called pollen kit.
 Stigmas are often inserted and sticky.
 Some flowers provide safe place to
insects for laying eggs, e.g., Yucca.
 Ornithophily
 It is the mode of cross pollination
performed by birds. Only a few types of
birds are specialised for this. They
usually have small size and long beaks.
 Example: Hibiscus, Fuchsias

Characteristics:
 Ornithophilous flowers are usually
brightly coloured— red, orange, yellow
or blue.
 The floral parts are commonly leathery.
 The ornithophilous flowers secrete
abundant watery nectar or have edible
parts.
 Scent is often absent.
Methods To Ensure Cross-
Pollination:-
 Dichogamy
Anthers and stigmas mature at different
times in a bisexual flower so as to prevent
self pollination.

 Herkogamy
In some bisexual flowers the structure of
male & female sex organs itself prove a
barrier to self pollination.
 Self Incompatibility
It is a condition in plants where certain
types of pollen will not form pollen tubes 
when deposited on the female stigma,
thus preventing fertilization. Pollen grains
of this flower do not germinate on the
stigma of the same flower due to presence
of similar self incompatible gene (S,S3 in
pistil and S1 or S3 in pollen grain).
Example: Tobacco, Potato, Crucifers.

 Male Sterility
Male sterility is defined as an absence or
non-function of pollen grain in plant or
incapability of plants to produce or release
functional pollen grains.
Artificial Pollination:-
This technique is used for the purpose of
Hybridisation.
• It involves pollination of desired female
parents with pollen from the desired
male parent, taking all precautions to
prevent contamination of stigma with
undesired pollen.
• In unisexual plants the procedure is
simple but its complicated in bisexual
ones.
• Two processes that takes place in
bisexual flower :
 Emasculation
 Bagging
Importance of Cross Pollination:
Advantages Disadvantages
 Cross pollination  A factor of chance
introduces genetic is always involved in
recombination and cross pollination.
hence variations in the  Pollen grains have
progeny. to be produced in
 It increases the abundance to ensure
adaptability of the chances of pollination.
offspring towards This results in lot of
changes in the wastage of pollen.
environment.  Some undesirable
 It makes the characters may creep in
organisms better fitted in the race.
the struggle for  The very good
existence. characters of the race
 Produced plants are likely to be spoiled.
through cross pollination
are more resistant to
diseases.