Bananas are grown in tropical countries and transported by ship to the UK. The bananas are picked while they are green and unripe.
Explain why bananas are picked while they are unripe.
Ripening fruit releases ethene gas. During transport, the air in the containers is changed regularly to remove ethene.
Explain why.
In the UK, the bananas are placed in ripening rooms that contain ethene. A supermarket wants its bananas to ripen in 4 days.
The Table shows the time taken for bananas to ripen at different concentrations of ethene.
Table
| Concentration of ethene in parts per million | Time taken to ripen in days |
|---|---|
| 0 | 14 |
| 10 | 8 |
| 50 | 5 |
| 100 | 4 |
| 200 | 4 |
Suggest which concentration of ethene the supermarket should use.
Give a reason for your answer.
Calculate the percentage decrease in the time taken to ripen when the concentration of ethene increases from 0 to 100 parts per million.
Give your answer to the nearest whole number.
46 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Biology 6.3 Plant hormones, covering 6.3.1 Plant hormones and tropisms and 6.3.2 Commercial uses of plant hormones. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.