Vol. 11, Issue 12 (2022)

Parthenocarpy is the growth of ovary into seedless fruit in the absence of pollination and fertilization. It may occur naturally or can be induced artificially by exogenous application of hormones or their enhanced endogenous level. Parthenocarpy improves the yield, quality and processing attributes of vegetable crops like cucumber, eggplant and watermelon, where seed is a limiting factor during consumption. Parthenocarpic vegetables increase profitability for processing industries. It may occur naturally or can be induced artificially by exogenous application of hormones or their enhanced endogenous level. This trait proved highly useful to develop fruits under environmental conditions that are unfavorable for successful pollination and fertilization, particularly in green house cultivation and especially in cross-pollinated crops. In the ever-changing global scenario of the world, security for the nutrition in the country is the important issue for agricultural sector. Vegetables occupy an important place in diversification of agriculture and have played a vital role in food and nutritional security of ever-growing population of our large vegetarian society. Vegetable consumption per capita in India is very low and that is only around 230.4 g per day against minimum of about 300 g recommended by dieticians so there is a great demand for production of more quantities of vegetables with high quality and reduces postharvest loss by increase a storage life as well as processing. The absence of seed is usually appreciated by consumers and producers because it increases fruit quality and fruit shelf life. It is an established fact that phytohormones play important role in fruit setting and their genetic manipulation can lead to seedlessness. Therefore, present review is focused on importance, approaches and potential of parthenocarpy in vegetable crops.