Mention the advantages of selecting pea plant for experiment by Mendel.

Mendel selected pea plants to carry out his study on the inheritance of characters from parents to offspring.

He selected a pea plant because of the following features.

(a) Peas have many visible contrasting characters such as tall/dwarf plants, round/wrinkled seeds, green/yellow pod, purple/white flowers, etc.

(b) Peas have bisexual flowers and therefore undergo self pollination easily. Thus, pea plants produce offsprings with same traits generation after generation.

(c) In pea plants, cross pollination can be easily achieved by emasculation in which the stamen of the flower is removed without affecting the pistil.

(d) Pea plants have a short life span and produce many seeds in one generation.