Explanation genetically or physiologically? Or whatever possible.
Dear Dr. Ketut
Colchicine has been used in plant breeding work to produce changes in plants by doubling the number of chromosomes in cells, a condition referred to as polyploidy. The increased number of chromosomes usually brings about an increase in size of the affected cells and various degrees of changes in their functions. In contrast with the normal plants, those developed by colchicine treatment often show changes in height and width; in thickness of branches; in size, shape, and texture of leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds; in fertility of flowers; and in physiological responses, However, the degree of changes produced when the chromosome number is doubled cannot be predicted. In a study on polyploidy and cellular mechanisms changing leaf size in Lolium, tetraploid cultivars had faster leaf elongation rates than did diploid cultivars, resulting in longer leaves, mainly due to their longer mature cells. Epidermal and mesophyll cells differed 20-fold in length, but were both greater in the tetraploid cultivars. The increase in cell length of the tetraploid cultivars was caused by a faster cell elongation rate, not by a longer period of cell elongation.
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