Alternatives of Hand Emasculation for Crossing in Crops

Hand Emasculation in Crop Plants

Hand Emasculation is a procedure of removing male parts from the flower by using hands or any forceps to avoid Selfing in that plant.

Hand Emasculation is a laborious method and it is very difficult to emasculate a population of plants. 

Many Alternatives for Hand Emasculation are used to save time and labor in crop.

Difficulties in Hand Emasculation

Hand Emasculation required an expert and it is very laborious work because pollen of some crops for example wheat are combined with the stigma so it is very difficult to separate pollen without injuring the ovary.

Some of the alternatives which plant breeders have to use to avoid hand emasculation and to cross a large number of plant are given below.

Using Male Sterile Plants

These Male Sterile plants are used in place of hand emasculation. these plants are genetically modified and crossed in such a way that their Pollen are either not present or not function able. Which ultimately left the option of crossing in that plant. Male Sterile plants are developed by using hybrid plants.

Covering the Male and Female Part of the Plant

We can also Stop Selfing by covering female part of the flower with a butter paper bag to avoid foreign contamination. it is also used as hand emasculation alternative for those plants which have separate flowers for male and female.