Honors Program Theses

Award/Availability

Open Access Honors Program Thesis

First Advisor

Laura Jackson

Abstract

Closed Bottle Gentian, Gentiana andrewsii, is an herbaceous flowering plant found in wetland prairies. The seed is difficult to germinate, so it is not on the native seed market. This study determines the optimal concentration of gibberellic acid for this species. The results were accessed based on the morphology changes, germination rates, and survivorship after transplanting. The 50 ppm concentration of gibberellic acid resulted in the highest rate of Gentiana andrewsii germination. The number of seedlings in the experimental group exhibited only slight differences between concentrations. Transplant data shows more significant advantages in determining an optimum concentration. The 50 ppm treatment produced significantly more vigorous seedlings that were able to survive a greenhouse environment after being transplanted from a more environmentally controlled germination chamber. The 50 ppm treatment also caused the most significant steam etiolation, making it susceptible to air flow damage in the greenhouse. Gibberellic acid affected the morphology of the seedlings, causing not only stem etiolation, but root size reduction, and leaf shape changes. Since the number of seedlings in the experimental group exhibited only slight differences, only transplant data shows more significant advantages. Given the morphological changes caused by treatment, using gibberellic acid in agar may not be an effective methodology.

Year of Submission

2023

Department

Department of Biology

University Honors Designation

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the designation University Honors

Date Original

5-2023

Object Description

1 PDF file (16 pages)

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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