medium difficulty5 min

Fertilisation and Post-Fertilisation Events

Fertilisation is the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote; after fertilisation, the ovule develops into a seed and the ovary develops into a fruit.

In one line: Ovule to seed, ovary to fruit.

Practice This Concept

Understand it

After pollination, the male gamete reaches the ovule.
The male and female gametes fuse to form a zygote.
The zygote develops into an embryo.
The ovule becomes the seed, and the ovary becomes the fruit.
These changes help protect and disperse the next generation.

Example

In mango, the fleshy fruit develops from the ovary, while the seed develops from the fertilised ovule.

Rule to remember

Male gamete plus female gamete gives zygote; fertilised ovule becomes seed; ovary becomes fruit.

See it worked out

Follow the example line by line, then use the same method on new questions.

Worked example

If a labelled diagram asks what structure becomes a seed, identify the ovule, because the fertilised ovule develops into the seed.

Method you can reuse

Begin with pollen on stigma, trace male gamete to ovule, write fusion, then state zygote, embryo, seed, and fruit formation.

Sketch it in your answer

Show pollen tube reaching the ovule, then a simple post-fertilisation flow from ovule to seed and ovary to fruit.

Check yourself

Answer the question in your head before opening the answer.

Try it yourself

What happens to the ovule and ovary after fertilisation in a flowering plant?

Think first, then show answer

After fertilisation, the ovule develops into a seed, and the ovary develops into a fruit that protects the seed.

Common wrong answer

Writing that stigma becomes seed.

Why it loses marks: Stigma receives pollen but the ovule forms the seed.

Don't mix this up

Students often write that the whole flower becomes the fruit; more accurately, the ovary develops into the fruit.

Exam tip

For sequence questions, write pollination, pollen tube growth, fertilisation, zygote, embryo, seed, and fruit in order.

Write it in the exam

Each point is worth about one mark. Write point 1 for a 1-mark question and keep adding points as the marks go up.

How CBSE asks it

Questions ask for the sequence after pollination, the fate of ovule and ovary, and zygote formation.

1
Enough for 1 mark
Fertilisation is the fusion of male and female gametes to form a zygote; after fertilisation, the ovule develops into a seed and the ovary develops into a fruit.
2
Add for 2 marks
Example: In mango, the fleshy fruit develops from the ovary, while the seed develops from the fertilised ovule.
3
Add for 3 marks
After pollination, the male gamete reaches the ovule.

MCQ Quiz

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