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Über Tubers |
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Über Tubers |
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Our original project hoped to observe the effects of different wavelengths of light on potato microtuber formation. However, due to certain circumstances, mainly time constraints, this was not possible. As a consequence, we were only able to complete the step of creating a medium in which the potato plants were to grow and the step in which we observed which environemnt is more suitable for tuber formation. For the step in which we created a medium, we focused on two plant hormones: 6-benzyladenine (BA), and kinetin. Our goal was to find a medium that was able to produce potato tubers at a rate of, or close to, 100%. Using varied concentrations of said hormones as variables, we hoped to find a media to make a more enhanced environment in which to test the effects of different wavelengths of light on potato tuber formation. We believed these plant growth hormones would promote tuber formation, as both are types of cytokinin, which influences cell specialization. We believed a mild concentration of a hormone would yield the best results as a lower concentration may not be sufficient in inducing change, while a higher concentration may result in an overdose. For the step in which we observed in which environment was more efficient, we tested a "normal" environment, with 16 hours of fluorescent light and 8 hours of dark compared to an environment of only darkness. For this step, we will use the results from the first step of our project to decide in what formula of medium to grow the nodes in. We predict that the environment with only darkness with result with more tubers as potato tubers form underground.