He studied garden pea (Pisian sativum), having 2n = 14 chromosomes, as experimental material. Mendel studied seven pairs of contrasting characters.
1. Seed shape:
Round / Wrinkled
2. Cotyledon color:
Yellow / Green
3. Seed coat color:
Brown / Grey / White
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4. Form of pod:
Inflated/Constricted
5. Unripe pod color:
Yellow/Green
6. Position of flowers:
Terminal/Auxiliary
7. Height of plant:
Tall/Dwarf
Why Mendel selected garden pea as an experimental material?
1. It is annual plant having well defined characters.
2. Pure breeding varieties were available in pea.
3. Production of hybrid was not difficult.
4. It is self fertilized as reproductive organs were enclosed within petals.
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5. Garden pea was having perfect flowers containing male and female organs.
6. Hybrids resulted from cross were completely fertile.
Why Mendel was successful in his work?
1. He had selected garden pea as his experimental material.
2. He concentrated his attention only on one character at a time.
3. He kept accurate record of progenies in successive generation.
4. He divided the off-springs in each generation into definite classes according to visible contrasting characters.
5. He studied large population to avoid sampling error.
6. He has statistical background and hence he would analyzed the data by statistical methods and worked out the significance of each character.
Rediscovery of Mendel’s work:
Mendel’s work was remained in dark till 1900. Many scientists started the study of heredity by crossing the plants.
De Vries in Holland, Correns in Germany and Tschermak in Austria independently began to hybridize the plants. They were unknown to each other.
When their results were completed it was observed that the results were similar to each other as well as to those obtained by Mendel.
Thus they published the results and proclaimed the importance of Mendel’s laws of inheritance.
Mendel was not first to perform hybridization experiments but he was the first to consider their results in terms of single traits.
While many others tried to obtain improved varieties of plants to use in agriculture and horticulture rather than to understand the mechanism.
Why Mendel’s work remained in dark?
1. Scientists believed Darwin’s book ‘origin of species’ and there was great impact of Darwinism.
2. The scientist had very little knowledge of cytology and genetics i.e. cell, cell division, cell development and reproduction.
3. Mendel was not biologist.
4. Mendel’s uncertainty along with his innate modesty prevented him from advertising his own work.