1 SCIENTIFIC REPORT The Name of the Student The Name of the Course The Name of the Professor The Name of the School The City and State where it is located Date
2 Abstract Plants growth and development is the process through which plants develop new tissues and new structures throughout their life. It is a very complicated process and is affected by various factors. The major factors which affect plants growth and development can be broadly classified into genetic factors and environmental factors. Genetic factors are associated to the genes of different species of plants while environmental factors are associated to the surrounding environment and include factors such as sunlight, CO2 concentration, water availability, soil structure, soil aeration, and many other factors. The factors which affect the growth and development of plants are very many and make the process to be very complex. An extensive research by the scientists have found the growth and development process of plants to be exponential in nature. In this scientific report, we are going to discuss the process of growth and development of plants in details and discuss some factors which affect the process in a great way.
3 Table of Contents Abstract..................................................................................................................................2 List of tables..........................................................................................................................4 List of figures........................................................................................................................5 1.0 Introduction....................................................................................................................6 2.0 Methods and materials..................................................................................................9 2.1 Objectives of the experiment.....................................................................................9 2.2 The seedling growth practical.................................................................................10 3.0 The results.....................................................................................................................11 4.0 Discussion......................................................................................................................18 4.1 A comparison of the overall plants’ masses after growing them at a CO2 concentration of 400 ppm and 700 ppm................................................................................19 4.2 A comparison of the photosynthesis rates of various plants after growing in CO2 concentrations of 400 ppm and 700 ppm...............................................................................24 4.3 A comparison of the relative growth rates of various plants after growing in CO2concentrations of 400 ppm and 700 ppm.......................................................................27 4.4 A summary of the discussion...................................................................................30 5.0 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................31 References...........................................................................................................................33
4 Appendices..........................................................................................................................36 List of tables Table 1: A table showing the species and the families of the plants used in the experiment9 Table 2: A table showing the initial data of the plants collected at the start of the experiment on 15-June...................................................................................................................11 Table 3: A table showing the new masses of the plants which were grown at a CO2 concentration of 400 ppm..............................................................................................................12 Table 4: A table showing the new masses of the plants which were grown at a CO2 concentration of 700 ppm..............................................................................................................14 Table 5: A table showing the photosynthesis rate, the relative growth rate (RGR), and the net assimilation rate at the CO2concentration of 400 ppm...........................................................15 Table 6: A table showing the photosynthesis rate, the relative growth rate (RGR), and the net assimilation rate at the CO2 concentration of 700 ppm...........................................................16 Table 7: A table showing the masses and total leaf area at the start of the experiment.......18 Table 8: A table showing the masses and leaf area after 5 to 7 weeks of growth in a greenhouse with a CO2 concentration of 400 ppm.......................................................................19 Table 9: A table showing the masses and leaves’ areas after 5 to 7 weeks of growth in a greenhouse with a CO2 concentration of 700 ppm.......................................................................20 Table 10: A table showing the photosynthesis rate, the relative growth rate (RGR), and the net assimilation rate of various plants at the CO2 concentration of 400 ppm...............................23
5 Table 11: A table showing the photosynthesis rate, the relative growth rate (RGR), and the net assimilation rate of various plants at the CO2 concentration of 700 ppm...............................24 List of figures Figure 1: Line graphs showing the comparison of the total masses of various plants after growth in the CO2 concentration of 400 ppm and 700 ppm.........................................................22 Figure 2: Line graphs showing the comparison of the photosynthesis rates of various plants grown at CO2 concentrations of 400 ppm and 700 ppm...............................................................26 Figure 3: A graph showing the relationship between relative rate of photosynthesis and concentration of CO2 in ppm........................................................................................................27 Figure 4: Line graphs showing the comparison of the relative growth rates of various plants grown at CO2 concentrations of 400 ppm and 700 ppm....................................................28 Figure 5: A figure showing typical RGR curves..................................................................29
6 1.0 Introduction In plant anatomy and physiology, plant growth and development is the process by which the plants develop new tissues and new structures from the meristems which are located at the tips of the plants’ organs or between the fully developed tissues of the plants. The growth process occurs throughout the whole life of the plants(Hunt, 2012). Plant growth and development involves various stages which the plant undergoes in its entire life. The main stages are: Cellular differentiation, morphogenesis, and plant embryogenesis. This is the first stage in the life cycle of a plant. A plant begins to form after the fertilization of the egg cell and the sperm cell. After the process of fertilization, the division process starts which leads to the formation of the plant embryo through the process of embryogenesis. The process of embryogenesis leads to the formation of a complex cell which forms a root on one end while the other end forms the shoot. At the end of the embryogenesis process, the plant will have all the necessary parts which are needed for the life of the plant to start. Once the plant starts to shoot, it will develop the other organs (roots, stems, and leaves) through organogenesis process (Sanchez, Biancardi, and Goes, 2014, pp.458-466). Morphological variation stage. This is the stage in the growth and development of the plants where different plants exhibit some natural variations in their forms and structures. The variations are openly witnessed on the leaves of the plants. The stems and the roots also undergo some variations, although in some plants it may be difficult to see the variations.
7 Leaf development stage. This is the stage where the plant starts massive development of leaves and branches. The plants develop leaves of different shapes and sizes depending on the type of the plant. The leaves are very important in plants as they are the major organs of photosynthesis (Dubey, Dwivedi, and Lahtinen, 2013, pp.134-142) Flower development stage. In this stage, the plants develop the flowers used for the reproduction process. The flowers contain the male and the female reproductive organs of the plants, and therefore, help in the reproduction process. In some plants, the male and the female reproductive organs are found in the same flower while other plants have them separate in different plants(Takhtajan, 2009). Fruits development stage. This is the stage where the plant produces some fruits and comes after the flowering stage. All the flowering plants produce fruits. However, it is important to note not all the plants produce some fruits as we have some non-flowering plants which produce spores or seeds instead of fruits (Pang, Luo, and Sun, 2012, pp.839-844). Having discussed the process of growth and development in plants, it is important to discuss some factors which affect the process of growth and development in plants. The major factors which affect the growth and the development of plants can be broadly classified into the genetic factors and the environmental factors. The genetic factors are determined by the genes of different plants. The genes play an important role in the growth and development of the plants. The natural genes have been
8 combined with some artificial genes improve the performance of some crops. The resulting hybrid crops have higher yields and have some improved traits as compared to the natural plants. Some of the desirable traits which can be observed in hybrid crops include good quality, higher resistance to different diseases, and great tolerance to dry conditions (Mallet, 2007, pp.279-283). The environmental factors also affect the growth and the development of plants in a great way. The environmental factors are the external conditions in the environment which affect the growth of plants. Some of the major environmental factors which affect the growth of plants include the temperature of the region, carbon (iv) oxide (CO2) concentration, the moisture supply, the radiant energy, the soil structure, and aeration. The atmosphere composition, the biotic factors, the supply of the required nutrients from the soil, and existence or absence of some growth restricting substances also affect the growth of plants (Kramer and Kozlowski, 2012). In this scientific report, we are going to discuss some factors which affect the growth rate of plants. We shall do a detailed analysis to examine how these factors affect the relative growth rate (RGR) of different plants. Relative growth rate is the rate of mass growth per unit mass which is already present. Relative growth rate is one of the major measures which are used to determine the growth potentials of different plants. The RGR is considered valid when the conditions of light, nutrients, and water are kept constants in all the plants under consideration (Rees, Osborne, and Turnbull, 2010). We shall use ten different native species, and each species will be represented by ten different seedlings. The results which we shall obtain will help us to come up with a comprehensive conclusion on some factors which affect the growth and development of plants and how they affect it.
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