Ethylene's Role in Breaking Dormancy — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2025Ethylene breaks seed and bud dormancy, initiates germination in peanut seeds, sprouting of potato tubers. Ethylene promotes rapid internode/petiole elongation in deep water rice plants. It helps leaves/ upper parts of the shoot to remain above water. Ethylene also promotes root growth and root hair formation, thus helping the plants to increase their absorption surface.
NTA focuses on ethylene's ability to break seed and bud dormancy and initiate germination—a regulatory mechanism that prepares seeds for growth. Students often confuse ethylene with gibberellins (which promote cell elongation and germination) or forget that ethylene also promotes root development alongside shoot elongation. The key trap: thinking dormancy-breaking is only about gibberellins or assuming ethylene only affects shoots. Remember: ethylene breaks dormancy, promotes internode elongation in aquatic conditions, AND enhances root growth and absorption capacity. This concept appears repeatedly because it tests understanding of multiple hormone functions and plant adaptation to environmental stress.
This paragraph was tested 3 times in NEET.
Which one of the following is involved in overcoming seed dormancy? [Neet 2025]
Which hormone promotes internode/petiole elongation in deep water rice? (NEET 2023)
The gaseous plant growth regulator is used in plants to: (NEET 2022 Phase 1)
Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.