When it comes to planting a seed from a seedless watermelon, the outcome can be quite unpredictable. Seedless watermelons are not actually completely devoid of seeds, but rather they contain tiny, underdeveloped seeds that are usually white and soft. These seeds are essentially sterile, meaning they are incapable of producing a viable seedling if planted.
If you were to plant a seed from a seedless watermelon, it is highly unlikely that you would get a seedless watermelon plant. Instead, the resulting plant would most likely exhibit a combination of traits from both the seedless watermelon parent and the pollen donor plant. This is because seedless watermelons are typically the result of crossbreeding between a diploid and a tetraploid watermelon plant.
The diploid watermelon plant contributes the normal number of chromosomes (two sets), while the tetraploid watermelon plant has four sets of chromosomes. When these two plants are cross-pollinated, the resulting offspring will generally have an odd number of chromosomes, which leads to seedlessness.
However, if you were to plant the seeds from a seedless watermelon, the resulting plant would likely have a different chromosome composition than its parents. This means that the resulting fruit may have seeds, but they would most likely be small, underdeveloped, and potentially sterile, just like the seeds found in seedless watermelons.
In essence, planting a seed from a seedless watermelon may result in a plant that produces fruits with small, non-viable seeds. The taste and quality of these fruits may also vary, as they would be influenced by the genetic makeup of both the seedless watermelon parent and the pollen donor plant.
It is important to note that commercial seedless watermelons are typically propagated through a process called cloning, where cuttings from the parent plant are used to grow new plants. This ensures that the desired seedless traits are maintained in the offspring.
If you were to plant a seed from a seedless watermelon, you may end up with a plant that exhibits a mix of traits from both the seedless watermelon parent and the pollen donor plant. However, the chances of obtaining a seedless watermelon from these seeds are extremely low. It is always best to obtain seeds or seedlings from a reliable source if you specifically want to grow seedless watermelons.