Asingle flowering plant produces pollen with a mutation that causes the pollen tubes to grow to only half their normal length. what will be the most likely long-term effect of this mutation on the local population of this type of plant? . plants produced from eggs fertilized by this pollen will only grow half as tall as the others, resulting in a population with short and tall plants.. since the pollen tubes cannot grow long enough to reach the eggs, the mutation will not be passed on and will not affect the plant population.. the pollen tubes will reach the eggs sooner, which will result in seeds from this pollen being produced faster, making the mutation more likely to get passed on.. within a few generations the mutation will have spread through the population, making all the pollen tubes shorter.