Question

Total number of meiotic division required for forming 100 zygotes/100 grains of wheat is-
A)100 B)75 C)125 D)50.
Please explain.

Answer 1

For flowering plants including wheat it is necessary to have a pollen and an egg cell to produce a single grain. One meiotic division produces 4 pollen cells or single egg cell (three cells formed after every meiotic division degenerates leaving only one functional cell), so the formula to calculate number of meiotic divisions is:

n+ n/4

Thus, total 125 meiotic divisions are required to produce 100 wheat grains (100 divisions to produce 100 egg cells and 25 divisions to produce 100 pollen cells).