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Question 62 of 70

Q.Describe physiological effects and applications of ethylene.

Maharashtra MsbshseMaharashtra HSC (MSBSHSE) Board 2024Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Ethylene is a gaseous plant hormone that promotes fruit ripening, senescence and abscission of leaves/flowers/fruits, breaks seed and bud dormancy, promotes epinasty, triggers the 'triple response' in etiolated seedli...

Ethylene is the ripening/senescence hormone of plants, with wide horticultural and agricultural applications.

Ethylene (C2H4) is unique among plant hormones in being a simple gas, synthesized especially by ripening fruits, senescing tissues and tissues under stress or wounding. Physiological effects: it strongly promotes ripening of climacteric fruits (bananas, mangoes, tomatoes) by increasing respiration rate and softening the fruit; it accelerates senescence (ageing) and abscission (dropping) of leaves, flowers and fruits; it breaks dormancy of seeds and buds in some species; it causes epinasty (downward curvature of leaves/petioles); in etiolated (dark-grown) dicot seedlings it produces the characteristic 'triple response' — inhibition of stem elongation, thickening/swelling of the stem, and horizontal (diageotropic) growth; and it can induce flowering in certain plants such as pineapple and mango. Applications: ethylene (commonly applied as the liquid ethephon, which releases ethylene inside plant tissue) is widely used to artificially ripen fruits for market, to promote uniform flowering and fruiting (e.g., in pineapple), to induce female fl …

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