| MadSci Network: Botany |
There are several mechanisms to obtain seedless fruit. Fruit development without pollination and fertilization or just without fertilization is termed parthenocarpy. Therefore, parthenocarpic fruits are almost always seedless. If you had cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L. var. cantalupensis) cultivars that were tetraploid and diploid and could cross them to give fertile seed, then you probably could produce seedless cantaloupes. That is the approach used to produce seed for seedless watermelon. Seedless watermelons are triploid but require pollination to stimulate fruit development. If you didn't have a tetraploid cantaloupe cultivar, you could create a tetraploid from a diploid using the chemical colchicine. An approach you could more easily try is to spray unfertilized flowers with a plant hormone, such as gibberellic acid, cytokinin or auxin. Plant hormone applications often promote the development of seedless fruit. An auxin is routinely used to produce seedless tomato fruit. The drawbacks to using plant hormones is that they must be sprayed on each crop, and pollination has to be prevented. In most grape cultivars, seedless fruit develop in a different way, termed stenospermocarpy. Seedless grapes must be pollinated and fertilized. Then the embryo aborts early in development so the grapes are essentially seedless. You can usually see the remains of the aborted seed in the grape. Eventually the gene(s) that cause stenospermocarpy may be isolated. That gene(s) might allow other species to be genetically engineered to produce seedless fruit. Development of seedless cultivars is useful for consumers because they have a seedless product. It also may be advantageous to growers because they may not have to worry about achieving successful pollination or fertilization. Cantaloupe may not be the best candidate for seedless fruit because the seeds are fairly easily removed during cutting to give seedless cantaloupe wedges. Seeds from watermelon are difficult to remove so seedless watermelon are well worth the extra cost. References Re: How come there are seedless fruits? Re: Is it necessary to have a male and female seedless grape plant? Re: How could you start a field of seedless grapes without vegtativepropagation Re: how would you form a seedless strawberry? Re: Does colchicine affect Colchicum?
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