Explain the steps involved in hybridization.

Explanation

Steps involved in hybridization are as follows: (1) Selection of parents: Male and female plants of the desired characters are selected. It should be tested for their homozygosity. (2) Emasculation: It is a process of removal of anthers to prevent self pollination before anthesis (period of opening of a flower). (3) Bagging: The stigma of the flower is protected against any undesirable pollen grains, by covering it with a bag. (4) Crossing: Transfer of pollen grains from selected male flower to the stigma of the female emasculated flower. (5) Harvesting seeds and raising plants: The pollination leads to fertilization and finally seed formation takes place. The seeds are grown into new generation which are called hybrid.