In artificial hybridisation, what is the next step after pollination?

The correct answer is Option (1) → Rebagging the flowers

Artificial hybridisation is a way of crossing chosen parents to improve crops. Only the desired pollen must reach the stigma, so the breeder works in a fixed order: emasculation (removing the anthers of a bisexual flower), bagging, collecting mature pollen from the male parent, dusting this pollen on the stigma (pollination) and then bagging the flower again.

Option (1) Rebagging the flowers — Correct. After the pollen is dusted on the stigma, the flower is covered again with the bag. Rebagging keeps unwanted pollen away from the stigma, and the fruits are then allowed to develop.

Option (2) Collecting mature pollen grains — Incorrect. Mature pollen grains are collected from the male parent before pollination, because these are the grains that are dusted on the stigma.

Option (3) Allowing the fruits to develop — Incorrect. The fruits develop only at the end, after the flower has been rebagged. This is the last stage, not the step that comes right after pollination.

Option (4) Dusting pollen on the stigma — Incorrect. Dusting pollen on the stigma is the act of pollination itself, so it cannot be the step that follows pollination.

NCERT Extract:
Pollination – “… Emasculated flowers have to be covered with a bag of suitable size, generally made up of butter paper, to prevent contamination of its stigma with unwanted pollen. This process is called bagging. When the stigma of bagged flower attains receptivity, mature pollen grains collected from anthers of the male parent are dusted on the stigma, and the flowers are rebagged, and the fruits allowed to develop.”