fertilization

• fertilisation

From French fertilisation; equivalent to fertilize +‎ -ation

fertilization (countable and uncountable, plural fertilizations)

1. The act or process of rendering fertile.
2. The act of fecundating or impregnating animal or vegetable gametes; especially, the process by which in flowers the pollen renders the ovule fertile, or an analogous process in flowerless plants
   • 2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

3. The act of applying fertilizer to soil.

• conception
• fecundation
• syngamy
• impregnation

• in vitro fertilization