If you leave a piece of moist bread covered under a small bell jar at a warm place, mould grows on it in a few days. Answer the following with reference to this observation:
(a) How did the mould get inside the bell-jar?
(b) What would happen if the bread was not covered by the bell-jar?
(c) What would happen if moist bread was placed in a refrigerator?
(d) What appears first on the bread – the mycelia or the spores?
(e) How does bread mould obtain nourishment? What type of nourishment is it – epiphytic, autotrophic, parasitic symbiotic, or saprophytic?

Question

If you leave a piece of moist bread covered under a small bell jar at a warm place, mould grows on it in a few days. Answer the following with reference to this observation:
(a) How did the mould get inside the bell-jar?
(b) What would happen if the bread was not covered by the bell-jar?
(c) What would happen if moist bread was placed in a refrigerator?
(d) What appears first on the bread – the mycelia or the spores?
(e) How does bread mould obtain nourishment? What type of nourishment is it – epiphytic, autotrophic, parasitic symbiotic, or saprophytic?

KnowledgeBoat · Accepted Answer

(a) Moulds are commonly present in air, water, etc. Hence, they were already present when moist bread was kept covered with the bell-jar.

(b) If bread was not covered by the bell-jar, mould would have appeared but after a while. The humid and warm conditions within the bell-jar facilitate rapid production of mould.

(c) Moulds do not grow below freezing point inside a refrigerator.

(d) Mycelia appears first on the bread, not the spores.

(e) Bread Mould obtains its nourishment through extracellular digestion from the substratum where it grows. This mode of nourishment is referred to as saprophytic nutrition.

Biology

Fungi Economics

Answer

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