Question

Write the importance of cross pollination.

Hint:

Recall how bringing together genetically different parents affects offspring.

Answer 1

Step 1: What Cross Pollination Means:
Cross pollination (xenogamy) is the transfer of pollen grains from the anther of one flower to the stigma of a genetically different flower/plant of the same species.

Step 2: Why it Matters:
It introduces genetic variation by combining genetic material from two different parent plants, producing offspring with new/heterozygous gene combinations (hybrid vigour); this raises the population's adaptability to changing environments and can mask/eliminate harmful recessive traits by combining them with healthy dominant alleles.