Here is a description of the hybridization technique that was carried out between plants having contrasting features in controlled conditions:
- Choose two pea plants that have contrasting features for a particular trait. For example, one plant could be tall and the other plant could be short.
- Fertilize the flowers of the tall plant with pollen from the short plant. This will create an F1 hybrid plant that has the tall allele from the tall plant and the short allele from the short plant.
- Allow the F1 hybrid plant to self-pollinate. This will create an F2 generation of plants.
- Observe the traits of the F2 generation. Mendel found that the F2 generation showed a 3:1 phenotypic ratio for the contrasting trait. This means that 3/4 of the plants in the F2 generation had the dominant phenotype and 1/4 of the plants had the recessive phenotype.