CBSE Class 10 Answered

The pollen grain lands on the stigma during pollination. Then it germinates in response to a sugary fluid secreted by the mature stigma. The pollen tube emerges from one of the germ pores and then grows and penetrates deep into the style towards the ovary. The growing tube carries the tube nucleus and the two male nuclei.

The pollen tube enters into the ovule, through the micropyle. Inside the embryo sac, the tip of the pollen tube ruptures and the 2 male gametes are set free near the egg apparatus. One of the 2 male gametes fuses with the egg nucleus and forms a diploid zygote (in a process called syngamy). The other male gamete pushes further into the embryo sac and fuses with the secondary nucleus and gives rise to a triploid nucleus called the primary endosperm nucleus (in a process called triple fusion)This entire phenomenon of fertilisation involving the fusion of one male gamete with the egg, together with the union of the second male gamete with the secondary nucleus or the polar nuclei is called as double fertilisation.