Name: Tasha
Status: student
Grade: 6-8
Location: GA
Country: USA

Question: Is ethylene gas the only gas that fruits such as banana
release? If not, then what other gasses?
---------------------------------------
Plants can release airborne compounds such as methyl salicylate and methyl 
jasmonate.  These compounds can be changed by the plant into compounds that 
alter growth and development, especially after the plant is attacked by 
caterpillars or disease-causing pathogens.

Jim Tokuhisa, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor



There is a list of other volatile compounds:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf00077a049



Anthony Brach  Ph.D.



 I suspect that there are far more gases released (or absorbed) by
plants than are presently documented.  For example, various pine trees
(evergreens) release a variety of terpenes. This is why the Smokey
Mountains along the east coast Appalachians are "smokey". I do not
think that what function these various emissions serve is well
understood, but no doubt they are multiple. Another documented example
is the prevailing South to North winds in the California central
valley.

NOx gases from southern California (smog) passes through the central
valley where they are reduced by agricultural and animal waste to
ammonia before encountering the northern California forests. These
trees absorb the ammonia, which actually provides fertilizer for the
trees in the prevailing wind zones. The point is that there can be
"cycles" that we are not even aware of.



Vince Calder