Question

Which of the following is a \[{C_4}\] plant?
A. Sugarcane
B. Tomato
C. Mango
D. Apple

Answer 1

Hint: \[{C_4}\] plants are those plants in which the carbon dioxide gets fixed forming oxaloacetic acid as the first stable product. Oxaloacetic acid is a 4-carbon containing compound and hence the name. These plants show a special anatomy known as Kranz Anatomy.

Complete answer:
To solve the question, we must first know about the \[{C_4}\] plants. \[{C_4}\] plants follow a special type of pathway for their carbon dioxide fixation. This \[{C_4}\] pathway was first observed in grasses like sugarcane, maize and other such members of the Family Gramineae. The \[{C_4}\] plants are photosynthetically more efficient as compared to the \[{C_3}\] plants.
The \[{C_4}\] plants have Kranz Anatomy. The features of plants exhibiting Kranz Anatomy are:
> The Bundle sheaths surround the vascular bundles. The chloroplasts of the bundle sheaths are large in size and contain grains of starch.
> The chloroplasts of the mesophyll cells are small in size.
> The \[{C_4}\] plants are able to grow in areas where there is very little supply of carbon dioxide.

The sugarcane plant shows Kranz Anatomy and so it is a \[{C_4}\] plant. Hence, the correct answer to this question is \[{C_4}\] plants.

Note: It must be noted here that in the \[{C_3}\] cycle the carbon dioxide acceptor is Ribulose-1, 5- bisphosphate whereas in the \[{C_4}\] cycle the carbon dioxide acceptor is Phosphoenol-pyruvate. Further, due to Kranz Anatomy the \[{C_4}\] plants do not show photorespiration which is very much evident in the \[{C_3}\] plants.