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Fruits Seed Development
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SEED DEVELPOMENT
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The development of the fruit from flower starts from
the stage of fertilization and continues
which is described as below:
Flowers are the true reproductive
organs of flowering plants. The "male"
part is the stamen or androecium,
which produces pollen (male gametes)
in anthers. The "female"
organ is the carpel or gynoecium,
which contains of egg (female gamete)
and is site of the fertilization.
While the majority of flowers are
perfect and hermaphrodite (having
both male and female parts in the
same flower structure), flowering
plants have developed numerous morphological
and also physiological mechanisms
actually to reduce or prevent self-fertilization.
Heteromorphic flowers have short carpals
and long stamens, or other wise vice
versa, so animal pollinators cannot
easily transfer pollen to the pistil
(receptive part of the carpel). Homomorphic
flowers could employ a biochemical
(physiological) mechanism called self-incompatibility
to discriminate between self and
non-self pollen grains. In other species,
the male and female parts are morphologically
separated, developing on different
flowers.
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The main growth of the fruits from the seeds include three main parts which includes:
Fertilization
Embroyology
Fruits and Seeds
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Fertilization
During period of the fertilization
the embryo-sac lies in a close proximity
to the opening of micro Pyle, into
which the pollen-tube has penetrated,
the separating cell-wall becomes absorbed,
and the male or sperm-cells are ejected
into the embryo-sac. Guided by the
synergetic one male-cell passes into
the oosphere with which it fuses,
the two nuclei uniting, while the
other fuses with the definitive nucleus,
or, as it is also called, the endosperm
nucleus. This is remarkable double
fertilization as it has been known,
although only recently discovered,
has been proved to take part place
in widely-separated families, and
both in Monocotyledons and of a prothallium
after a cause following the reinvigorating
union of the polar nuclei. This view
is still maintained by those who are
differentiate two acts of fertilization
within the embryo-sac, and regard
that of egg by the first male-cell,
as the true or generative fertilization,
and that of polar nuclei by the second
male gamete as a vegetative fertilization
which gives a stimulus to development
in correlation with the other.

If,
on the other hand, the endosperm is
the product of an act of fertilization
as definite as that giving rise to
the embryo itself, we have to recognize
that twin-plants are produced within
the embryo-sac—one, the embryo,
which becomes the angiosperm us plant,
the other, the endosperm, a short-lived,
undifferentiated nurse to assist in
the nutrition of the former, even
as the subsidiary embryos in a pluri-embryonic
Gymnosperm may facilitate the nutrition
of the dominant one. If this is so,
and the endosperm like the embryo
is normally the product of a sexual
act, hybridization will give a hybrid
endosperm as it does a hybrid embryo,
and herein (it is suggested) we may
have the explanation of the phenomenon
of xenia observed in the mixed endosperms
of hybrid races of maize and other
plants, regarding which it has only
been possible hitherto to assert that
they were indications of the extension
of the influence of the pollen beyond
the egg and its product. This would
not, however, explain the formation
of fruits intermediate in size and
colour between those of crossed parents.
The signification of the coalescence
of the polar nuclei is not explained
by these new facts, but it is noteworthy
that the second male-cell is said
to unite sometimes with the apical
polar nucleus, the sister of the egg,
before the union of this with the
basal polar one.
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Embroyology
The
result of fertilization is the development
of the ovule into the seed. By the
segmentation of the fertilized egg,
now invested by cell-membrane, the
embryo-plant arises. A varying number
of transverse segment-walls transform
it into a pro-embryo—a cellular
row of which the cell nearest the
micropyle becomes attached to the
apex of the embryo-sac, and thus fixes
the position of the developing embryo,
while the terminal cell is projected
into its cavity. In Dicotyledons the
shoot of the embryo is wholly derived
from the terminal cell of the pro-embryo,
from the next cell the root arises,
and the remaining ones form the suspensor.
In many Monocotyledons the terminal
cell forms the cotyledonary portion
alone of the shoot of the embryo,
its axial part and the root being
derived from the adjacent cell; the
cotyledon is thus a terminal structure
and the apex of the primary stem a
lateral one—a condition in marked
contrast with that of the Dicotyledons.
In some Monocotyledons, however, the
cotyledon is not really terminal.
The primary root of the embryo in
all Angiosperms points towards the
micropyle. The developing embryo at
the end of the suspensor grows out
to a varying extent into the forming
endosperm, from which by surface absorption
it derives good material for growth;
at the same time the suspensor plays
a direct part as a carrier of nutrition,
and may even develop, where perhaps
no endosperm is formed, special absorptive
"suspensor roots" which
invest the developing embryo, or pass
out into the body and coats of the
ovule, or even into the placenta.
The formation of endosperm starts,
as has been stated, from the endosperm
nucleus. Its segmentation always begins
before that of the egg, and thus there
is timely preparation for the nursing
of the young embryo. If in its extension
to contain the new formations within
it the embryo-sac remains narrow,
endosperm formation proceeds upon
the lines of a cell-division, but
in wide embryo-sacs the endosperm
is first of all formed as a layer
of naked cells around the wall of
the sac, and only gradually acquires
a pluricellular character, forming
a tissue filling the sac. The function
of the endosperm is primarily that
of nourishing the embryo, and its
basal position in the embryo-sac places
it favourably for the absorption of
food material entering the ovule.
Its duration varies with the precocity
of the embryo.
Some deviations from the usual course
of development may be noted. Parthenogenesis,
or the development of an embryo from
an egg-cell without the latter having
been fertilized, has been described
in species of Thalictrum, Antennaria
and Alchemilla. Polyembryony is generally
associated with the development of
cells other than the egg-cell. Thus
in Erythronium and Limnocharis the
fertilized egg may form a mass of
tissue on which several embryos are
produced. Isolated cases show that
any of the cells within the embryo-sac
may exceptionally form an embryo,
e.g. the synergidae in species of
Mimosa, Iris and Allium, and in the
last-mentioned the antipodal cells
also. In Coelebogyne (Euphorbiaceae)
and in Funkia (Liliaceae) polyembryony
results from an adventitious production
of embryos from the cells of the nucellus
around the top of the embryo-sac.
In a species of Allium, embryos have
been found developing in the same
individual from the egg-cell, synergids,
antipodal cells and cells of the nucellus.
In two Malayan species of Balanophora,
the embryo is developed from a cell
of the endosperm, which is formed
from the upper polar nucleus only,
the egg apparatus becoming disorganized.
The picturization
of the fruit from flower of tomato
is explained below

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Fruits And Seeds
As the development
of embryo and endosperm proceeds within
the embryo-sac, its wall enlarges
and commonly absorbs the substance
of the nucellus (which is likewise
enlarging) to near its outer limit,
and combines with it and the integument
to form the seed-coat; or the whole
nucellus and even the integument may
be absorbed. In some plants the nucellus
is not thus absorbed, but itself becomes
a seat of deposit of reserve-food
constituting the perisperm which may
coexist with endosperm, as in the
water-lily order, or may alone form
a food-reserve for the embryo, as
in Canna. Endospermic food-reserve
has evident advantages over perispermic,
and the latter is comparatively rarely
found and only in non-progressive
series. Seeds in which endosperm or
perisperm or both exist are commonly
called albuminous or endospermic,
those in which neither is found are
termed exalbuminous or exendospermic.
These terms, extensively used by systematists,
only refer, however, to the grosser
features of the seed, and indicate
the more or less evident occurrence
of a food-reserve; many so-called
exalbuminous seeds show to microscopic
examination a distinct endosperm which
may have other than a nutritive function.
The presence or absence of endosperm,
its relative amount when present,
and the position of the embryo within
it, are valuable characters for the
distinction of orders and groups of
orders. Meanwhile the ovary wall has
developed to form the fruit or pericarp,
the structure of which is closely
associated with the manner of distribution
of the seed. Frequently the influence
of fertilization is felt beyond the
ovary, and other parts of the flower
take part in the formation of the
fruit, as the floral receptacle in
the apple, strawberry and others.
The character of the seed-coat bears
a definite relation to that of the
fruit. Their function is the twofold
one of protecting the embryo and of
aiding in dissemination; they may
also directly promote germination.
If the fruit is a dehiscent one and
the seed is therefore soon exposed,
the seed-coat has to provide for the
protection of the embryo and may also
have to secure dissemination. On the
other hand, indehiscent fruits discharge
these functions for the embryo, and
the seed-coat is only slightly developed.
With multi-seeded fruits, multiple
grains of pollen are necessary for
syngamy with each ovule. The process
is easy to visualize if one looks
at maize silk, which is the female
flower of corn. Pollen from the tassel
(the male flower) falls on the sticky
external portion of the silk, then
pollen tubes grow down the silk to
the attached ovule. The dried silk
remains inside the husk of the ear
as the seeds mature, so one can carefully
remove the husk to show the floral
structures. The development of the flesh of the fruit is proportional
to the percentage of fertilized ovules.
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Special fruits for this week
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