Acknowledgements

I undertook this Project work, as the part of

our XII-Biology course. We had tried to apply
our best of knowledge and experience, gained
during the study and class work experience.
The project required a systematic study,
insight vision and professional approach.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks
and gratitude to our teacher MRS. SHIFANA
THEKKAN. We are very much thankful to our
Principal MRS. HAMEEDA KADAR and our
Head of Section MR. MOHAMMED ILIAS for
his coordination in extending every possible
support.
We would like to take the opportunity to
extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to
our parents for being a source of inspiration
and providing time and freedom to develop
this project

INDEX
Sl No. Content Page No.

1 Abstract 3

2 Introduction 4

3 Process 5

4 Fertilization 9

5 Types of Pollination 10

6 On the basis of Pollinating agent 11

7 Mechanism 15

8 Pollen Vectors 19

9 conclusion 21

10 Bibliography 23
 ABSTRACT
Pollination is the process by which pollen is transferred to
the female reproductive organs of a plant, thereby
enabling fertilization to take place. Like all living
organisms, seed plants have a single major purpose: to
pass their genetic information on to the next generation.
The reproductive unit is the seed, and pollination is an
essential step in the production of seeds in all
spermatophytes. For the process of pollination to be
successful, a pollen grain produced by the anther, the
male part of a flower, must be transferred to a stigma,
the female part of the flower, of a plant of the same
species. The process is rather different in angiosperms
from what it is in gymnosperms. In angiosperms, after the
pollen grain has landed on the stigma, it creates a pollen
tube which grows down the style until it reaches the
ovary. Sperm cells from the pollen grain then move along
the pollen tube, enter the egg cell through the micropyle
and fertilise it, resulting in the production of a seed.
A successful angiosperm pollen grain containing the male
gametes is transported to the stigma, where it
germinates and its pollen tube grows down the style to
the ovary. Its two gametes travel down the tube to where
the gametophyte containing the female gametes are held
within the carpel. One nucleus fuses with the polar bodies
to produce the endosperm tissues, and the other with the
ovule to produce the embryo. Hence the term: "double
fertilization"

INTRODUCTION
In gymnosperms, the ovule is not contained in a
carpel, but exposed on the surface of a dedicated
support organ, such as the scale of a cone, so that
the penetration of carpel tissue is unnecessary.
Details of the process vary according to the
division of gymnosperms in question. Two main
modes of fertilization are found in gymnosperms.
Cycads and Ginkgo have motile sperm that swim
directly to the egg inside the ovule, whereas
conifers and genophytes have sperm that are
unable to swim but are conveyed to the egg along
a pollen tube.

The study of pollination brings together many

disciplines, such as botany, horticulture,
entomology, and ecology. The pollination process
as an interaction between flower and pollen vector
was first addressed in the 18th century by
Christian Konrad Sprengel. It is important in
horticulture and agriculture, because fruiting is
dependent on fertilization: the result of pollination.
The study of pollination by insects is known as
anthecology

PROCESS
Pollen germination has three stages; hydration,
activation and pollen tube emergence. The pollen
grain is severely dehydrated so that its mass is
reduced enabling it to be more easily transported
from flower to flower. Germination only takes place
after rehydration, ensuring that premature
germination does not take place in the anther.
Hydration allows the plasma membrane of the
pollen grain to reform into its normal bilayer
organization providing an effective osmotic
membrane. Activation involves the development of
actin filaments throughout the cytoplasm of the
cell, which eventually become concentrated at the
point from which the pollen tube will emerge.
Hydration and activation continue as the pollen
tube begins to grow.
In conifers, the reproductive structures are borne
on cones. The cones are either pollen cones (male)
or ovulate cones (female), but some species are
monoecious and others dioecious. A pollen cone
contains hundreds of microsporangia carried on (or
borne on) reproductive structures called
sporophylls. Spore mother cells in the
microsporangia divide by meiosis to form haploid
microspores that develop further by two mitotic
divisions into immature male gametophytes (pollen
grains). The four resulting cells consist of a large
tube cell that forms the pollen tube, a generative
cell that will produce two sperm by mitosis, and
two prothallial cells that degenerate. These cells
comprise a very reduced microgametophyte, that
is contained within the resistant wall of the pollen
grain.
The pollen grains are dispersed by the wind to the
female, ovulate cone that is made up of many
overlapping scales (sporophylls, and thus
megasporophylls), each protecting two ovules,
each of which consists of a megasporangium (the
nucellus) wrapped in two layers of tissue, the
integument and the cupule, that were derived from
highly modified branches of ancestral
gymnosperms. When a pollen grain lands close
enough to the tip of an ovule, it is drawn in through
the micropyle (a pore in the integuments covering
the tip of the ovule) often by means of a drop of
liquid known as a pollination drop.
The pollen enters a pollen chamber close to the
nucellus, and there it may wait for a year before it
germinates and forms a pollen tube that grows
through the wall of the megasporangium (nucellus)
where fertilisation takes place. During this time,
the megaspore mother cell divides by meiosis to
form four haploid cells, three of which degenerate.
The surviving one develops as a megaspore and
divides repeatedly to form an immature female
gametophyte (egg sac). Two or three archegonia
containing an egg then develop inside the
gametophyte. Meanwhile, in the spring of the
second year two sperm cells are produced by
mitosis of the body cell of the male gametophyte.
The pollen tube elongates and pierces and grows
through the megasporangium wall and delivers the
sperm cells to the female gametophyte inside.
Fertilisation takes place when the nucleus of one of
the sperm cells enters the egg cell in
megagametophyte’archegonium.
In flowering plants, the anthers of the flower
produce microspores by meiosis. These undergo
mitosis to form male gametophytes, each of which
contains two haploid cells. Meanwhile, the ovules
produce megaspores by meiosis, further division of
these form the female gametophytes, which are
very strongly reduced, each consisting only of a
few cells, one of which is the egg. When a pollen
grain adheres to the stigma of a carpel it
germinates, developing a pollen tube that grows
through the tissues of the style, entering the ovule
through the micropyle. When the tube reaches the
egg sac, two sperm cells pass through it into the
female gametophyte and fertilisation takes place.
FERTILIZATION
 TYPES OF POLLINATION

 Depending on the source of pollen,

pollination can be classified into 2 types -
 Self-pollination and Cross Pollination
(Xenogamy).
 Self Pollination is further divided into
Autogamy and Geitonogamy. Depending
on agent of Pollination, pollination can be
classified into abiotic pollination and biotic
pollination.
 Self Pollination is the type of Pollination in
which pollen grains are transferred from
anther to the stigma of the same flower
(Autogamy) or pollen grains are
transferred from anther to the stigma of
different flower of the same plant
(Geitonogamy).
 Cross Pollination or Xenogamy is the type
of pollination in which pollen grains are
transferred from anther to the stigma of a
different plant.
ON THE BASIS OF POLLINATING
AGENT
 ABIOTIC
Abiotic pollination refers to situations where
pollination is mediated without the involvement of
other organisms. The most common form of abiotic
pollination, anemophily, is pollination by wind.
Wind pollination is very imprecise, with a minute
proportion of pollen grains landing by chance on a
suitable receptive stigma, the rest being wasted in
the environment. This form of pollination is used by
grasses, most conifers, and many deciduous trees.
Hydrophily is pollination by water, and occurs in
aquatic plants which release their pollen directly
into the surrounding water. About 80% of all plant
pollination is biotic. In gymnosperms, biotic
pollination is generally incidental when it occurs,
though some gymnosperms and their pollinators
are mutually adapted for pollination. The best-
known examples probably are members of the
order Cycadales and associated species of beetles.
The abiotically pollinated species of plant, 98% are
anemophilous and 2% hydrophilous, their pollen
being transported by water.It is thought that
among angiosperms, entomophily is the primitive
state; this is indicated by the vestigial nectaries in
the wind-pollinated Urtica and other plants, and the
presence of fragrances in some of these plants. Of
the angiosperms, grasses, sedges, rushes and
catkin-bearing plants are in general wind
pollinated. Other flowering plants are mostly biotic,
the pollen being carried by animal vectors.
However a number of plants in multiple families
have secondarily adopted wind pollination in
contrast to other members of their groups. Some
plants are intermediate between the two
pollination methods. common heather is regularly
pollinated by insects, but produce clouds of pollen
and some wind pollination is inevitable, and the
hoary plantain is primarily wind pollinated, but is
also visited by insects which pollinate it.
 BIOTIC
More commonly, the process of pollination requires
pollinators: organisms that carry or move the
pollen grains from the anther of one flower to the
receptive part of the carpel or pistil (stigma) of
another. This is biotic pollination.[9] The various
flower traits (and combinations thereof) that
differentially attract one type of pollinator or
another are known as pollination syndromes.[10]
At least 100,000 species of animal, and possibly as
many as 200,000, act as pollinators of the
estimated 250,000 species of flowering plants in
the world.[7] The majority of these pollinators are
insects, but about 1,500 species of birds and
mammals have been reported to visit flowers and
may transfer pollen between them. Besides birds
and bats which are the most frequent visitors,
these include monkeys, lemurs, squirrels, rodents
and possums.Entomophily, pollination by insects,
often occurs on plants that have developed colored
petals and a strong scent to attract insects such as,
bees, wasps and occasionally ants (Hymenoptera),
beetles (Coleoptera), moths and butterflies
(Lepidoptera), and flies (Diptera).
The existence of insect pollination dates back to
the dinosaurera.Inzoophily, pollination is performed
by vertebrates such as birds and bats, particularly,
hummingbirds, sunbirds, spiderhunters,
honeyeaters, and fruit bats. Ornithophily or bird
pollination is the pollination of flowering plants by
birds. Chiropterophily or bat pollination is the
pollination of flowering plants by bats. Plants
adapted to use bats or moths as pollinators
typically have white petals, strong scent and flower
at night, whereas plants that use birds as
pollinators tend to produce copious nectar and
have red petals.Insect pollinators such as honey
bees (Apismellifera), bumblebees
(Bombusterrestris),and butterflies
(Thymelicusflavus) have been observed to engage
in flower constancy, which means they are more
likely to transfer pollen to other conspecific plants.
This can be beneficial for the pollinators, as flower
constancy prevents the loss of pollen during
interspecific flights and pollinators from clogging
stigmas with pollen of other flower species. It also
improves the probability that the pollinator will find
productive flowers easily accessible and
recognisable by familiar clues.
 MECHANISM
Pollination can be accomplished by cross-
pollination or by self-pollination:
Cross-pollination, also called allogamy, occurs
when pollen is delivered from the stamen of one
flower to the stigma of a flower on another plant of
the same species. Plants adapted for cross-
pollination have several mechanisms to prevent
self-pollination; the reproductive organs may be
arranged in such a way that self-fertilisation is
unlikely, or the stamens and carpels may mature
at different timesModes of Cross Pollination:
The agencies which transfer pollen grains from
anthers of one flower to the stigma of a different
flowers are as follows: WIND (Anemophily), WATER
(Hydrophily), INSECTS (Entomophily), BIRDS
(Ornithophily)' and BATS (Cheiropterophily).

 ANEMOPHILY:
 Anemophilous plants produce enormous
amount of pollen grains: A single plant of
Mercurialis annually has been estimated to
produce 1,352,000,000 pollen grains.
Anemophilous plants bear small and
inconspicuous flower. The pollen grains are
small, light, smooth and dry. Pollen of some
plants are said to be blown to 1,300 km. In
some plants as Pinus, pollen grains are winged.
 The flowers are usually unisexual in some
plants e.g. Mulberry is borne in independent
catkins which can sway freely and shake off
their pollen in air. The flowers may be borne on
long axis (as in grasses) much above the
leaves.
 The anther is versatile so as to oscillate in all
directions at the tip of filament. In Urticaceae
filaments are very long. Anempohilous flowers
have adequate devices to catch the air-borne-
pollen grains with utmost efficiency. For this
the stigma is usually large and feathery (as in
grasses) and brush like as in Typha.
  HYDROPHILY:
 It is of two types:
(a) Hypohydrogamy:
Includes plants which are pollinated inside the water,
Ceratophyllum, Najas.
(b) Epihydrogamy:
Vallisneriaspiralis (ribbon weed) is a submerged
dioecious plant. The flowers are borne under water. When
mature, the male flower get detached from the parent plant
and float on the surface of water. The pistillate flowers also
develop under water, at the time of pollination, they are
brought to the surface by their long and slender stalks. As it
arrives on the surface it forms a cuplike depression. If male
flowers floating on water get lodged into the depression, the
pollination takes place. After pollination, the stalk of the
pistillate flower undergoes spiral torsion bringing the pollinated
flower under water once more.

 ENTOMOPHILY:
 Some of the insects which help in pollination
are bees, flies, wasps, moths and beetles.
Bees, flies and beetles visit flowers which open
after sunset. Bees probably carry out 80% of all
pollination done by insects. Bee pollinated
flowers are coloured, possess special smell
 and/or produce nectar. Pollen grains are sticky
or with spinousexine. Also the stigma is sticky
and bees are colour blind for red.

 ORNITHOPHILY:
 Tiny birds like humming birds and honey
thrushes (hardly 1 inch long) feeds on the
nectar of flower like Bignonia, Erythrina is
visited by crows.

 CHIROPTERIPHILY:
 Bauhinia megalandra of Java and
Anthocephalus are pollinated by bats.
 MALCOPHILY:
 Many aroids which are usually pollinated by
Diptera are also pollinated by snails.
 POLLEN VECTORS
Biotic pollen vectors are animals, usually insects,
but also reptiles, birds, mammals, and sundry
others, that routinely transport pollen and play a
role in pollination. This is usually as a result of their
activities when visiting plants for feeding, breeding
or shelter. The pollen adheres to the vector's body
parts such as face, legs, mouthparts, hair, feathers,
and moist spots; depending on the particular
vector. Such transport is vital to the pollination of
many plant species.
Any kind of animal that often visits or encounters
flowers is likely to be a pollen vector to some
extent. For example, a crab spider that stops at
one flower for a time and then moves on, might
carry pollen incidentally, but most pollen vectors of
significant interest are those that routinely visit the
flowers for some functional activity. They might
feed on pollen, or plant organs, or on plant
secretions such as nectar, and carry out acts of
pollination on the way. Many plants bear flowers
that favour certain types of pollinator over all
others. This need not always be an effective
strategy, because some flowers that are of such a
shape that they favor pollinators that pass by their
anthers and stigmata on the way to the nectar,
may get robbed by ants that are small enough to
bypass the normal channels, or by short-tongued
bees that bite through the bases of deep corolla
tubes to extract nectar at the end opposite to the
anthers and stigma.
Some pollinator species can show huge variation in
pollination effectiveness because their ability to
carry pollen is impacted by some morphological
trait. This is the case in the white-lined sphinx
moth, in which short-tongued morphs collect pollen
on their heads but long-tongued morphs do not
carry any pollen. Some flowers have specialized
mechanisms to trap pollinators to increase
effectiveness. Other flowers will attract pollinators
by odor. For example, bee species such as
Euglossacordata are attracted to orchids this way,
and it has been suggested that the bees will
become intoxicated during these visits to the
orchid flowers, which last up to 90 minutes.
However, in general, plants that rely on pollen
vectors tend to be adapted to their particular type
of vector, for example day-pollinated species tend
to be brightly coloured, but if they are pollinated
largely by birds or specialist mammals, they tend
to be larger and have larger nectar rewards than
species that are strictly insect-pollinated. They also
tend to spread their rewards over longer periods,
having long flowering seasons; their specialist
pollinators would be likely to starve if the
pollination season were too short.

CONCLUSIONS
Pollination management is a branch of agriculture
that seeks to protect and enhance present
pollinators and often involves the culture and
addition of pollinators in monoculture situations,
such as commercial fruit orchards. The largest
managed pollination event in the world is in
Californian almond orchards, where nearly half
(about one million hives) of the US honey bees are
trucked to the almond orchards each spring. New
York's apple crop requires about 30,000 hives;
Maine's blueberry crop uses about 50,000 hives
each year.
Bees are also brought to commercial plantings of
cucumbers, squash, melons, strawberries, and
many other crops. Honey bees are not the only
managed pollinators: a few other species of bees
are also raised as pollinators. The alfalfa leafcutter
bee is an important pollinator for alfalfa seed in
western United States and Canada. Bumblebees
are increasingly raised and used extensively for
green house tomatoes and other crops.
The ecological and financial importance of natural
pollination by insects to agricultural crops,
improving their quality and quantity, becomes
more and more appreciated and has given rise to
new financial opportunities. The vicinity of a forest
or wild grasslands with native pollinators near
agricultural crops, such as apples, almonds or
coffee can improve their yield by about 20%. The
benefits of native pollinators may result in forest
owners demanding payment for their contribution
in the improved crop results – a simple example of
the economic value of ecological services. Farmers
can also raise native crops in order to promote
native bee pollinator species as shown with L.
vierecki in Delaware and L. leucozonium in
southwest Virginia.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference books:
1. Biology Text for Class XII – NCERT
Reference websites:
Google: -

Website- www.google.co.in
Wikipedia: -

 www.ncert.nic.in