REASON'S FOR MENDEL'S SUCCESS

1.         Mendel selected only pure breeding varieties of pea (Pisum sativum) for his experiments.

2.         Mendel took only those traits for his studies which did not show linkage, interaction or incomplete dominance.

3.         Mendel took one or two characters at one time for his breeding experiments while his predecessors often studied all the traits simultaneously.

4.         Mendel's experimental plant pea (Pisum sativum) is ideal for controlled breeding. It is cross-bred manually while normally it undergoes self breeding.

5.         He took care to avoid contamination from foreign pollen grains brought by insects.

6.         Mendel kept a complete record of every cross, subsequent self breeding and the number of seeds produced.

7.         He formulated theoretical explanations for interpreting his results. His explanations were further tested by him as to their validity.

8.         Mendel used statistical methods and law of probability analysing his results.

9.         Mendel was lucky in selecting those traits, the genes of which were either present on different chromosomes or showed complete recombination.