Give a short answer to the question given below:
Mohan and Rohit observed that shoots of a plant growing in shade bend towards the sunlight. Whereas, leaves of ‘Touch me not’ plant fold and droop soon after touching. They were curious to know how these movements occur in plants.
A. What causes the bending of shoots in the plants as shown in figure A?
A. What causes the bending of shoots in the plants as shown in figure A?
Figure A - Shoots of a plant bending towards light
The bending of shoots towards sunlight is caused by a process called , which is a plant's growth response to . The movement is regulated by the plant hormone , which plays a crucial role in this phenomenon. When light is directed at one side of the plant, auxin accumulates on the shaded side of the shoot. This leads to on the shaded side, making that side grow faster than the side exposed to light. As a result, the towards the light source. This adaptation helps the plant maximize by exposing its leaves to more sunlight.