Increase the ploidy level of a plant may cause higher vegetative growth. Stomatal size as well as pollen size increases with the increase level of ploidy. Morphologically, Leaf area, plant height and plant girth also increases proportionately with increase in ploidy level (as evident in banana). But, in many cases, a decrease in various growth attributes is observed in case of higher ploidy level. Please justify.
Decrease in growth attributes in plants with higher polyplody compared to their related diploid is not a standard phenomenon and may be genotypic.
Yes it can also be observed in the genus Tagetes at species level. In this African Marigolds (Tagetes erecta) are diploids and having vigorous growth, tall plants and bigger flowers compared to tetraploid French marigold (Tagetes patula) plants.
also a good paper to read- it depends what kind of polyploidy it is; allo-polyploidy or auto-polyploidy
Hello
Because the cell-division cycle is prolonged, resulting in a slow growth rate and late plant maturity than diploid. The delayed development has been associated with decrease in growth hormone level in polyploidy tissue and with lower rates of respiration. The final plant size may not be increased over that of the diploid because of fewer cell-division cycles, but ther can be an increase in the size of flowers, fruits and seeds, particularly in autotetraploids (Appels et al., 1998)
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