Question:

What were the advantages of choosing Pea plants for experiments by Gregor Johann Mendel?
(A) Pea plants are easy to cultivate.
(B) Pea plants are highly resistent to pests.
(C) Pea plants have short life cycle.
(D) Pea plants are easy to hybridize.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

Show Hint

Advantages of Pisum sativum:
- Easy cultivation and short life cycle.
- Bisexual flowers with natural self-pollination.
- Feasible artificial cross-pollination (hybridization).
- Sharply defined contrasting morphological traits.
Updated On: Sep 4, 2026
  • (A) and (C) only
  • (B) and (C) only
  • (C) and (D) only
  • (A), (C) and (D) only
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The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Concept:
Gregor Johann Mendel performed systematic hybridization experiments between 1856 and 1863, establishing the basic principles of heredity.
His scientific success was largely due to his careful selection of the garden pea (Pisum sativum) as an experimental model organism.
This question tests the biological attributes that made the garden pea plant advantageous for genetic research.

Step 1: Analyzing Biological Characteristics of Pea Plants:

1. Cultivation (Statement A): Garden pea plants are annual herbs that are easy to cultivate and maintain in small experimental plots. Thus, (A) is correct.
2. Short Life Cycle (Statement C): Pea plants complete their life cycle within a single growing season (few months), enabling researchers to study multiple successive generations in a short time. Thus, (C) is correct.
3. Ease of Hybridization (Statement D): Pea flowers are naturally self-pollinated (cleistogamous), but they can easily be cross-pollinated artificially by removing anthers (emasculation) and dusting pollen from another plant. Thus, (D) is correct.

Step 2: Evaluating Non-Relevant Factors:

Pest Resistance (Statement B): Pea plants are not uniquely or inherently pest-resistant, and pest resistance was neither an attribute considered by Mendel nor a valid advantage cited in classical genetic literature.

Step 3: Final Answer:

The valid advantages are (A), (C), and (D).
Thus, Option (D) is the correct answer.
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