Do you already do something with growth regulators? You might try
ong-term comparison of dwarf and typical forms of a plant treated with
giberellins or chemical "pinching agents" (we used to use B-9, but I
may be dating myself...)or manually pinched or left as a control.
Explore: does manually pinching produce the same result as a chemical
dwarfing agent or genetic dwarfism? Does it take more than one
application of a dwarfing agent to equal genetic dwarfism or manual
pinching? Can a shoot-growth promoter overcome the effects of genetic
dwarfism or reverse the effects of previous applications of dwarfing
agents?
I seem to remember that poinsettia cuttings are routinely either
pinched or drenched with a dwarfing agent, but there are also dwarf
forms of snapdragons, marigolds, etc. available.
Monique Reed
Bernadette Roche wrote:
>> We have a lab course where one of our goals is to have students carry a project through the semester (while also doing other "modules" in the course). Last year we did nitrate analysis, using standard curves, let the students design experiments based on hypotheses/questions re: amount of nitrates in plants based on either different treatments or different parts of the plants (I did not teach the course, so I am not exactly sure what they did). We are looking for a substitute "plant physiology" study that freshmen could do, especially one where they could develop different questions and be doing slightly different experiments. Any ideas? I thought of induction of secondary compounds, with different sorts of stresses (clipping, drought, etc.). I'm just looking for some other ideas, especially any that might have already been used in freshmen/sophomore level courses.
>> Bernadette Roche, Loyola College
>> Bernadette Roche Office: 410-617-5591
> Department of Biology Fax: 410-617-5682
> Loyola College in Maryland
> 4501 N. Charles Street
> Baltimore, MD 21210
>> ---
