Embryology began largely as a descriptive science dealing with fertilization and embryo development. Realization of its use for taxonomic considerations led to the development of a new trend in embryological studies namely Comparative Embryology or Experimental Embryology. The chief objectives are (1) to understand the factors that control various embryological processes, (2) to develop control for modifying these processes by altering the environmental condition of the whole plant or its excised parts.
Experimental Embryology has established intimate contacts between Embryology and other disciplines of Botany, especially Genetics and Physiology. Practical application of Embryology is somewhat useful to plant breeding also. Since Experimental Embryology is volu¬minous, it has been discussed under different sub-topics such as (a) control of fertilization, (b) embryo culture (c) parthenocarpy (d) cell and tissue culture.
