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Gregor Mendel chose the pea plants for his experiments because the garden pea is an ideal subject in the study of genetics for the following reasons:

-- presence of observable traits with contrasting forms

-- produces many offspring in one cross

-- short life cycle

-- ease in manipulating pollination (cross pollination)

Pea plants had the following chacracteristics:

  1. plants were sexually reproducing with bisexual flowers
  2. self pollination and self fertilization is possible
  3. the life cycle was completed in one season
  4. hybrids were perfectly fertile
  5. many varieties with well-defined characters were available i.e. presence of seven pairs of contrasting or allelomorphic characters

Pea plants (leguminosae) have an irregular flower in which the top part of the corolla is much larger than the lower part (Hitchcock and CronquistFlora of the Pacific Northwest p228). If you haven't ever seen a pea flower, it looks much like a snap dragon bloom. This feature keeps the flowers from freely pollinating each other by wind, as they are tightly shut. If protected from pollinating insects, they will only self pollinate, or if the anthers are clipped off they can be very selectively pollinated by a person. This gave Mendel much tighter control over the crossbreeding of the plants.

Because pea plants are easy to propagate and have 7 observable traits like Seed Shape, seed color, Seed coat color, pod shape, flower position and stem length


This can be speculated, but pea plants were probably picked because of their ability to reproduce quickly. If Gregor Mendel had used an animal, he would have had to wait many years before being able to study the passing on of traits.
He chose them because they are quick and easy to grow and several peas are produced in each pod. It is fortunate that he chose the plant that he did, and that he chose the characteristics he did to observe. Some plants would have been much more difficult to work with.
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7y ago
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5mo ago

Gregor Mendel used pea plants for his experiments because they have distinct characteristics that are easy to observe and manipulate, such as flower color, seed shape, and plant height. Pea plants also have a short growing season, allowing Mendel to observe multiple generations quickly.

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12y ago

Gregor Mendel used pea plants because they were less complicated genetic wise than an animal or other organism, they grew quickly so he could see the results of his experiment sooner, and he had more control over them (he could choose self polliantion or cross polination and could physically do it)

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Q: Why did Gregor Mendel use pea plants?
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Related questions

What did gregor Mendel use p plants to study what?

Gregor Mendel used pea plants to study heredity.


What did Gregor Mendel use pea plants to study?

genetics


What did gregor Mendel use for his garden?

He used pea plants.


What organisms did gregor Mendel use as his test subjects?

pea plants


What plant Gregor Mendel use for his studies?

pea pod plants


Which plant did Gregor Mendel use in his famous experiments?

Gregor Mendel used pea plants in his famous experiments on heredity and genetics. These experiments laid the groundwork for the modern understanding of how traits are inherited from one generation to the next.


What technology did Gregor Mendel use for his pea plant experiments?

Gregor Mendel used traditional manual methods such as cross-pollination and careful record-keeping for his pea plant experiments. He observed the patterns of inheritance by systematically breeding pea plants with specific traits over multiple generations. Mendel's experiments laid the foundation for modern genetics.


Why did gregor mendel use the pea plant?

pea plants show very different traits that are easy to tell apart and they grow relatively fast


What organism's did Gregor Mendel use to investigate the inheritance of traits?

Sweet Pea having seven contrasting traits.


What types of plants did gregor Mendel work with?

Gregor Mendel worked with pea plants in his experiments on inheritance and genetics. He specifically focused on garden pea plants (Pisum sativum) with specific contrasting traits that were easy to observe and track through generations.


What organism did gregor mendel use to conduct his experiment?

Gregor Mendel conducted his experiments on pea plants (Pisum sativum) to study heredity. He chose pea plants because they were easily grown, had observable traits that were easy to control, and exhibited clear patterns of inheritance.


How lond did gregor Mendel study pea plants?

Gregor Mendel studied pea plants for about 8 years, from 1856 to 1863, at the St. Thomas's Abbey in Brno, Czech Republic. His experiments with pea plants laid the foundation for the field of genetics.