Pollen Mixture

a mixture of pollen from various plant species and varieties; it is used for the artificial pollination of plants. Owing to the physiological and biochemical heterogeneity of the pollen of various species or varieties, the components of a pollen mixture may stimulate or inhibit further development of the pollen grains of a given plant species or variety on the stigma or in the style of the pistil. The components of a pollen mixture also interact with tissues of the pistil, thereby making the role of the various pollens in fertilization more complex. I. V. Michurin used pollen mixtures to overcome noncrossing in the distant hybridization of plants.