Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
To evaluate these statements, we must analyze the physiological effects of ploidy levels (haploidy vs. polyploidy) and the reproductive biology of watermelon.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Let us evaluate both statements individually:
- Statement (I) is incorrect: The "gigas" effect (characterized by increased cell size, larger stomata, thicker leaves, and larger flowers/fruits) and the "genome buffering" effect (where multiple gene copies mask the expression of deleterious recessive mutations) are classic characteristics of polyploid plants, which possess duplicated chromosome sets.
In contrast, haploid plants ($1n$) have only a single set of chromosomes.
They are typically small, weak, and sterile, showing a "nanism" (dwarfing) effect rather than a gigas effect, and they have no genome buffering capacity.
- Statement (II) is correct: Under natural conditions, watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) does not exhibit natural parthenocarpy (fruit development without fertilization).
Commercial seedless watermelons are produced using triploid ($3n$) plants.
Even these triploid plants require pollination (pollen stimulation) from adjacent diploid plants to trigger fruit set, and do not set fruit parthenocarpically in the absence of pollen.
Therefore, Statement (I) is incorrect, while Statement (II) is correct, matching Option (D).
Step 3: Final Answer:
Statement (I) is incorrect but Statement (II) is correct.