What why did Mendel use pea plants in his experiments? 2 yrs ago / Yessi Best Answer (Chosen by Voter) A) Mendel was interested in breeding animals, but since his superiors at the monastery felt it inappropriate, he concentrated on raising garden peas and other plants. B) Mendel used pea plants because they had several easily identifiable, contrasting traits: 1. Seed shape – round (smooth) vs. wrinkled 2. Seed color – yellow vs. green 3. Mature pod shape – inflated (full) vs. constricted 4. Unripe pod color – green vs. yellow 5. Flower and pod arrangement – axial (distributed along the stem) vs. terminal (at end of stem) 6. Flower petal color – violet vs. white 7. Stem length – long (tall / 6’ – 7’) vs. short (dwarf / 9” – 18”) c) In addition, peas are normally self-pollinating, but Mendel could control whether they self- pollinated or not. In his initial experiments, Mendel removed the stamens from some of the young flowers so that self- fertilization could not occur, then tied a bag around each flower so that cross-fertilization could not occur. After the pistils became mature, he artificially cross-pollinated them by dusting the stigma of pea plants with pollen of other pea plants that had factors for some contrasting trait. d) Pea plants are also inexpensive, easy to maintain, and grow quickly.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 16:23:05 +0000
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