Ans. Mendel selected pea plant (Pisum sativum) to carry out a large number of experiments. In his writings, he gave reasons for this selection. He argued that an organism for genetic experiments should have the following features:
• There should be a number of different traits that can be studied. Figure 15.6
•The organism should have contrasting traits e.g. for the trait Of height there should ^ only two very different phenotypes i.e. tallness and dwarfness.
• The organism (if it is a plant) should be self-fertilizing but cross fertilization should also be possible.
The organism should have a short but fast life cycle.
All these features are present in pea plant. Normally, the flowers of pea plant allow self-pollination. Cross pollination can also be done by transferring the pollen grains from the flower on one plant to the flower on another plant. Each trait studied in pea plant had two distinct forms. Mendel's succeeded in his work not only because he selected the right organisms for his experiments but also because he analyzed the results by using the principles of statistics (ratios).