Question

Why does bread mould grow profusely on a moist slice of bread rather than on a dry slice of bread?
A. Moisture is an important factor in the growth of mould.
B. Moisture is not an important factor for the growth of mould.
C. The softness of bread is an important factor for the growth of mould as mould can not tolerate tough surfaces.
D. All of the above.

Answer 1

Hint: Bread mould is the common name for Rhizopus.
It is a spore-forming fungus.

Complete answer: Spores are formed by fungi in situations of extreme stress like lack of moisture and sub-optimal temperatures. The spore wall is very thick.
It is made of glycoproteins. The spore wall provides protection to the cells inside the spore. The spores can develop into new Rhizopus individuals.
The spore wall protects the spores until they come into contact with another moist surface and begin to grow. Moist bread slice offers both moisture and nutrients to the bread mould, therefore it grows profusely.
A dry slice of bread gives nutrients to the spores but not moisture hence hyphae fail to grow.

Additional information: Spores are the single-celled reproductive units of non – flowering plants, bacteria, fungi, and algae. Basically, spores can be called their babies, except they don’t need their parents. All life forms do not reproduce sexually.
Many of them, such as fungi and bacteria, reproduce without mating at all.

Hence, the correct answer is an option (C).

Note: In fungi, spores can be of the following types – Sporangiospores, Zygospores, Ascospores, Basidiospores, and Oospores.