Question

What is parthenocarpy? Name the hormone which helps in this process.

Answer 1

Hint: In this a fruit develops without fertilization.

Complete Answer:
Parthenocarpy is the process of the development of fruit without fertilization.
The fruit that is produced is seedless but looks like a normal fruit. Parthenocarpy can be seen in most of the variety of fruits which includes pineapple, cucumber, banana, grapes, oranges etc.
Seedless parthenocarpic fruit can be induced in non-parthenocarpic varieties and in naturally parthenocarpic varieties out of season by a type of artificial pollination with dead or altered pollen or by pollen from a different type of plant. The parthenocarpic development can also be caused by the application of artificially grown substances in paste form, by injection, or by spraying.
Gibberellin, auxin and cytokinin are the plant hormones which are helpful in this process when sprayed on flowers could stimulate the development of parthenocarpic fruit. It is termed as artificial parthenocarpy. The need of parthenocarpy is where it is difficult to fertilize or pollinate fruit crops like fig, tomato etc.
There are two types of parthenocarpy: 1) Vegetative parthenocarpy: This occurs in crops like cucumber, pear, and fig and this process can take place without pollination. 2) Stimulative parthenocarpy: This process requires pollination but not fertilization. Example of the stimulative parthenocarpy in Grapes.

Note: The word parthenocarpy derived from the Greek word: Parthenos means Virgin and karpos means Fruit. Some parthenocarpic cultivars are of ancient origin. The oldest known cultivated plant is parthenocarpic fig which was found at least 11,200 years ago. Parthenocarpy is the natural as well as artificial process to make the fruit seedless without the fertilization of ovules.