What's new
  • ICMag with help from Landrace Warden and The Vault is running a NEW contest in November! You can check it here. Prizes are seeds & forum premium access. Come join in!

using multiple males

I have what might be an absolutely stupid question. I've done a little looking around on Google with no luck. My question is this. When multiple males are used to pollinate a female, do the offspring contain DNA from all of the males or will some seeds contain DNA from male a, some seeds from male b, and some from male c? I hope I'm asking this clearly. Thanks.

Mr. Roseberry
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Answer "B" -

Whatever pollen grain contacts the pistil - and fertilizes it - will be the father.

For the DNA from the males to mix with each other, one of their daughters would have to be mated with one of their sons. It would take another generation of plants (at least.)
 

Genghis Kush

Active member
"According to a study published in the Mar. 28 issue of Human Genetics, two sperm fertilized one egg and created the twins. The phenomenon occurs in about 1% of the population, but most embryos created in this way — called triploids because they have three sets of chromosomes — do not live.Mar 28, 2007"

I imagine it is a similar process in plants,

that possibly, very rarely, two males can pollinate the same pistil.

But 99 % of the time it does not happen.
 
Top