Explain the process of emasculation and bagging of flowers. State their importance in breeding experiments.

Emasculation: If the female parent bears bisexual flowers, removal of anthers from the flower’s bud before the anther dehiscence, using a pair of forceps is referred to as emasculation.

Bagging: 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.

Importance: When the stigma of bagged flower attains receptivity, mature pollen grains collected from anthers of the male parents are dusted on the stigma, the flowers are rebagged and the fruits are allowed to develop.
If the female parent produces unisexual female flowers, there is no need of emasculation. The female flower buds are bagged before the flowers open. When the stigma becomes receptive, pollination is carried out using the desired pollen and the flower is rebagged.