Prepare to laugh: Hybridizing question

I understand the basics of hybridization, I think. Hand-pollinating the flowers of Plant A with the pollen of Plant B causes Plant A to produce seeds which will be a hybrid of Plants AxB, right?

And I assume that to do this, the plants must be isolated so natural pollination via wind or insects can't take place.

My question is this, and it will probably make you laugh out loud: Can Plant A produce more than one hybrid, if several different flowers on Plant A are hand-pollinated, each with a different plants' pollen?

I guess I'm thinking about how a female dog can be fertlized by more than one male during her heat cycle, and can produce puppies from both fathers in one litter. Does it work this way with plants, too, or does the first pollinated flower on Plant A decide what ALL the seeds will be?

Okay, quit giggling and answer my question, please! ;)

This message was edited Jun 3, 2004 2:22 AM

I don't know but I am certianly watching the answer to this one!! LOL!

The way I've always understood it... and it might vary on different plant species....

But each pollen grain that it successful will produce one seed. So... if the pollen is mixed... then I would assume it's possible to get seeds with different dads in the same pod.

You can hand pollinate different flowers on the same plant with different pollen doners... and get several pods with different dads. That's why it's important to label each cross you make.

poppysue is correct. Each grain of pollen travels down the style to the ovary and fertilizes one seed usually housed in the base of the flower called the ovule. Hence, different flowers may produce a modified seed.

Remember that the reverse is also true. The seeds saved from a hybrid may not be the same as the parent plant.
Birds and the Bees: 101

Hiya, nada! welcome to DG from someone in your neck of the woods!

That is fascinating. I am so glad y'all didn't laugh me right out a the neighborhood. But this is a friendly place and we can all feel safe asking the odd questions!

GW, everyone has given correct advice. Different plants have different ways of pollen distribution though. A plant that relies on insects for pollen transfer isn't likely to need wind.

Tomatoes can be pollinated by insects, but it isn't common. Most insects are not attracted to tomato flowers. Tomato pollen isn't windborne either. It's a heavier pollen that usually just shakes down onto the style if the plant is gently moved. But it can never be carried on the wind to another flower. Cross pollination occurs in the rare instance that an insect actually carries the pollen to another flower of a different variety.

There are also plants that have male and female flowers and transfer of pollen is required between the two for seeds to form. Some plants have Perfect Flowers. That means that the male and female parts are contained on the same blossom (a tomato, pepper,petunia)

Depending on the type of flower and it's requirements for pollination, cross pollination is common or rare.

Your question about whether plant A can have several sets of donors is a valid one. If you mixed pollen from several donor plants, you could have several unrelated plants grown from a single seed pod. Corn is a great example. The pollen is windborne and each corn kernal is a seed that has to be pollinated to develop. The pollen comes from the whole field of corn and unless you bag the ears before they silk,the parents of the kernals on each ear are many.

Hope this helps.

Is that how the multi-colored ears of corn occur?

In a simple answer, yes. It gets deeper than that though when it comes to corn. Some varieties have the genetic capability to produce several colors. It would take quite a few generations of saving and planting just the red kernals to produce a crop of entirely all red corn. You will still have multicolored ears for some time, until the genetic trait you want is successfully isolated.

On the other hand, if you have white corn and yellow corn planted in two different fields, the next generation...properly called the F1 generation if you are talking about two stable varieties that crossed...will be white and yellow mixed.