Optimizing pollination

摘要

Scientists hope to find out how the pollen source affects pollination and final fruit size and quality. Sesearchers at Virginia Tech are studying pollen tube growth in apple pollinizers in an effort to help growers optimize pollination. The fertilization process begins after pollen is deposited on a flower stigma. Male gametes from the pollen are transported through a pollen tube that grows from the pollen grain down through the style to the ovules where the fertilized, resulting in fruit set ("An apple flower").