Question

A few normal seedlings of Tomato were kept in the dark room. After a few days they were found to become white coloured like albinos. Which of the following terms will you use to describe them?
A. Embolished
B. Etiolated
C. Defoliated
D. Mutated

Answer 1

Hint:- Tomato plant belongs to a flowering plant group known as angiosperms. Tomato plants belong to the Solanaceae family also called the nightshade family. Tomato plants need proper darkness and night balance to grow. When a plant is kept in dark for more than 36 hours then depigmentation of leaves occur.

Complete step-by-step solution:-
Seedlings are the young plants that develop from a seed. Sometimes, tomato flowers are also said as perfect flowers because both male and female organs are located within the same flower. Scientific name of tomato is Lycopersicon esculentum L. Tomato seedlings are normally potted after 10 days they have sprouted. But if flowering plants do not get enough light to grow then stems become weak and smaller, pale yellow leaves, longer internodes, seedling become white like albinos due to etioplasts (when chloroplast have not been exposed to light). Thus due to this tomato seedling found to be white coloured. The mode of reproduction of tomato plants is sexual (includes both male and female gametes).
Etiolation is a process of growing flowering plants in dark or partial or complete absence of light. And the process of development of seedlings in dark known as skotomorphogenesis and open on to etiolated seedlings (white coloured).
Defoliation is widespread loss of leaves.
The correct answer is option B – Etiolated.

Note:-
The stem of a plant that grows in dark elongates much more rapidly than that growing in light and this process is known as etiolation. Tomato plants ideally need 6-8 hrs a day to properly absorb carbon dioxide as it helps to produce quality fruits and also need proper lightning (10-12 hrs) to produce flowers and fruits in day time to maximize fruit yield.