Seedless fruits are of no use in
2016
Seedless fruits are of no use in
- A.
Coconut
- B.
Tomato
- C.
Banana
- D.
Grape
Attempted by 2 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: A fruit is "seedless" when it lacks developed seeds. This can happen through parthenocarpy (the fruit develops without fertilisation at all) or through stenospermocarpy (fertilisation occurs but the developing seed aborts early, as in many commercial seedless grapes). Whichever the cause, whether seedlessness makes a given fruit useless depends on WHERE its edible part comes from: if the edible tissue is the fruit wall (pericarp/mesocarp), losing the seed leaves the edible part untouched; but if the edible tissue is itself a seed structure (such as the endosperm stored inside a seed), losing the seed removes the very tissue that is eaten.
Application: In coconut, the white "flesh"/kernel and the coconut water that are actually consumed are the endosperm — nutritive tissue stored inside the seed. If a coconut were seedless, it would have no endosperm at all, so there would be nothing left to eat; seedlessness would defeat the fruit's entire purpose.
Tomato: the fleshy part eaten is the pericarp (fruit wall) surrounding the placenta, not the seed itself, so a seedless tomato keeps all of its edible pulp.
Banana: the edible pulp likewise develops from the fruit wall; cultivated bananas are commonly seedless already and are eaten precisely for that pulp.
Grape: the sweet flesh is again pericarp tissue, which is why seedless grape varieties are grown commercially and remain just as useful.
Cross-check: Commercial cultivation confirms the pattern — seedless tomato, banana, and grape varieties are actively grown and sold because losing the seed does not affect what is eaten. There is no equivalent "seedless coconut" product, because eliminating the seed would eliminate the coconut's edible endosperm altogether.
So, among the given options, seedlessness would make the fruit of no use only in the case where the edible part is seed tissue — the coconut.