Impact of heteroauxin inVicia faba

Sofia Loureiro Reis Pedreiras (sofia.pedreiras@gmail.com)

Ensino secundário – Instituto de Promoção Social de Bustos
Curso de Ciências e Tecnologias, Disciplina de Biologia e Geologia – 10ºA
prof. Telmo Domingues ( telmo_domingues@ipsb.pt)
Academic year 2015/2016

Keywords: auxins, Vicia faba, growth

Abstract
One of the basic characteristics of life is the ability to answer to environmental stimulus. For example, plants respond to many environmental
factors such as light, gravity, water, inorganic nutrients and temperature. The growth and development of a plant is influenced by many factors. The
chemical hormones that exist inside the plant are one of those factors. This poster presents an experimental activity in which it is intended to identify
the influence of auxins, a group of plant hormones, in the development of Vicia faba.
Results

Fundamental concepts Results Heights

Plant hormones affect a plant’s ability to respond to its environment. 800

They interact with specific target tissues in order to cause physiological 700

responses such as growth or fruit ripening. This answer is distinct from plant 600
to plant and it depends on the age of the plant and the concentration in which Plot 1 – H2O

the plant hormones act, for example. Plot

Plot
2 – Aux. 0.1 mg
3 – Aux 1 mg
500

There are five major groups of hormones: gibberellins, which are

Heights (mm)
Plot 4 – Aux 3 mg
Plot 5 – Aux 10 mg 400

involved in stem growth and plant's germination; ethylene, responsible for

fruit ripening and leaf fall; cytokinins, which stimulate plant growth and are 300

responsible for the inhibition of plant aging; abscisic acid, which promotes 200

aging of plants and inhibits their growth; and auxins. 100

Auxins are involved in apical dominance and plant-cell elongation (they
change the cell wall plasticity). They also stimulate the elongation of stems 0
15/abr 18/abr 20/abr 22/abr 26/abr 27/abr 29/abr 02/mai 04/mai 06/mai 09/mai 11/mai 13/mai 16/mai 18/mai
and rooting. At low concentrations, auxins stimulate the roots’ growth and
development, while in high concentrations they inhibit its growth. Auxins Results
play an important role in phototropism and gravitropism, as well as in the Biomass
abscission of leaves and fruits. 25

The Vicia faba is a species of the family Fabaceae and it was used in this
experience in order to understand the influence of heteroauxins in its 20
development.
Plot 1 – H2O
Plot 2 – Aux 0.1 mg
15 Plot 3 – Aux 1 mg

Lab material
Plot 4 – Aux 3 mg
mass (g)

1 watch glass; Plot 5 – Aux 10 mg

heteroauxin; 1 test tube (1000 ml); 10

1 pen; 1 test tube (50 ml);

15 labels; 1 beaker; 5

15 bottles; soil;
1 spade; Water; 0
Leaves biomass Stem biomass Roots biomass Total biomass
1 ruler;
1 scale; Biological material Results discussion
15 Vicia faba's seeds; By analysing the biomass graphic, we can observe that when the
Procedure concentration of auxins in water increases, the roots, leaves and stem biomass
decreases.
A- Prepare solutions On the other hand, we can conclude that as the concentration of auxins in
Prepare 5 liters of hormone solutions. The 4 different concentrations water increases, the plant heights become lower, but they are all very similar.
have values ranging from 0.1 mg / l to 10mg / l; Auxins stimulate the elongation of stems and rooting, but in high
Store the solutions in containers and in a place protected from light concentration they inhibit the roots' growth. However, in practice we observed
and heat. that, at the concentration of 10mg/l, the roots biomass is higher than expected,
while the height of the plant is lower than the expected. These results are not in
B- Sow plants accordance with the expected ones.
Cut the bottles (planters) with 15cm of height; We investigated possible reasons that could explain the discrepancy between
Identify the planters and put soil in; the expected results and the obtained ones. The possibilities that we found are:
Open a hole in the soil and bury the Vicia faba's seeds. Then, cover the validity of the auxin expired 7 years ago and it had been exposed to air,
the hole with soil; becoming degraded; the soil was contaminated with garbage and hadn't enough
Water the ground with 50 cm3 of the respective solution. nutrients; the excess of water; inadequate registration of the germination of
plants; lack of data because some of the plants hadn't germinated.
C-Plant maintenance We should have checked these hypotheses experimentally, but we didn't do
Water the planters with 50ml of the respective solution in the it due to lack of time.
established days;
Record the time that each seed takes to reach the surface. From then Conclusions and Future Work
on measure the length of the shoot each time you water the plants. With this experiment we wanted to understand and verify the influence of
auxins in the growth and biomass of Vicia faba.
D-Data collection We observed that as the concentration of auxins in water increases, the
Remove the plant from the planter and wash its root to remove all biomass decreases, while the plant heights were not significantly influenced by
the soil; the concentration of auxins. These results weren't the expected ones, so we have
Weigh the full plant and then the leaves, stem and root separately; formulated several hypotheses to justify these differences.
Record this data. As future work, I would like to repeat the experience and control the factors
that eventually have influenced the results.
Bibliography
● Geneve Robert, University of Kentucky, Horticulture Department. Plant hormones. ( avaiable at:
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Horticulture/Geneve/teaching/plantpropwebpages/biology/hormonesauxin.pdf) - 19/05/2016
● Texas Master Gardeners Association, Horticulture. Auxins. (avaiable at: http://txmg.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/bell/files/2010/03/Auxins.pdf) – 22/05/2016