Plant Hormone Ethylene
- Prof. Bhagwan Deen
- Nov 22, 2023
- 10 min read
Ethylene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name of ethylene is ethene. It is colourless gas which is higher than air at room temperature and soluble in water. The ancient Egyptians used to make the cut on figs to stimulate the ripening. Later on, it has been proved that ethylene production can be accelerated in plants by wounding the plant tissues. The ancient Chinese used to burn incense, a type of aromatic plant material in closed rooms to enhance the ripening of pears. In 1901 Dimitry Neljubow a Russian scientist reported that street lights gas that caused stunting of growth, twisting of plants and abnormal thickening of stems was ethylene. It was Cousin (1910) who observed that a gas emanated from oranges caused banana ripening stored with oranges during shipping. In 1934 Gane reported that plants synthesise ethylene and demonstrated that ethylene was produced by the apple fruits during ripening in storage. The early work was mainly concerned with the practical application of smoke to induce flowering in pineapple and ripening of banana fruits. In 1935 Crocker suggested that ethylene was the plant hormone responsible for fruit ripening and senescence of vegetative tissues. Ethylene is produced in all parts of higher plants and its production is affected by a variety of developmental factors like seeds germination, fruits ripening, leaves, abscission, flowers senescence and environmental factors like mechanical injury, environmental stress and chemicals like auxins. Ethylene is a natural plant hormone which is widely used for ripening of fruits.
