FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT

SBF3023 PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

LABORATORY REPORT: PLANT GROWTH HORMONE

(EFFECT OF GIBBERELLINS ON PLANT GROWTH)

PREPARED BY:

NAME GROUP MATRIC NUMBER

SITI ZULAIKA BINTI
ABDUL GHANI
DHEEPAH REDDI A/P
PERUMAL
NANTHINI A/P MATHU
A D20172081178
A D20172080250
A D20172081411

NUR AMIEERA BINTI A D20172081375

SOFIAN

LECTURER NAME: PUAN FATIMAH AZZAHRA BINTI AHMAD RASHID

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 06TH DECEMBER 2019
 LABORATORY REPORT: PLANT GROWTH HORMONE |2

CONTENTS

No. Title Page

1. Introduction 3
2. Objectives 3
3. Hypothesis 3
4. Materials 4
5. Methods 4
6. Results 5
7. Discussion 25
8. Conclusion 27
9. References 28
10. Attachments 29
 LABORATORY REPORT: PLANT GROWTH HORMONE |3

INTRODUCTION

Plant hormones are natural substances which control many aspects of plant development. They
control everything from the length between nodes on the branches to the programmed death, or
loss of a cell's power of division and growth seen in many annual plants. Gibberellin was
discovered by the Japanese plant pathologist, Kurosawa while studying the rice disease. It was
found that rice plants infected by the fungus Gibberella fuzikuroi showed excessive stem
elongation, which is due to the effect of gibberelin secreted, by the fungus in the infected plant.
The plant growth hormone gibberellin promotes the cells at the internodes of normal and dwarf
plants to elongate (Scott, 1975).

Plant hormones are small molecules produced within the plants that regulate growth and
development in trace amounts (Santner & Estelle, 2009). Gibberellin is one of the known
hormones that are biosynthesized through complex pathways and is important in controlling
many aspects of growth and development of the plant including seed developments, organ
elongation and the control of flowering time (Yamaguchi, 2008). GA, which is a part of the
gibberellin family, was initially discovered to be a metabolic product of the fungus Gibberella
fujikuroi. It was first found when a Japanese plant pathologist investigated a disease of rice plant
called the bakanae disease, where plants 1 suffering from this disease were found to be infested
by the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi. Infected plants initially grow taller in comparison to healthy
ones, but eventually gets weaker resulting in death (Brian, 1958). Previous studies also found
that both GA and auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) positively stimulate internodes elongation,
leading to stem elongation (Yamaguchi, 2008; Yang, Davies, & Reid, 1996).

OBJECTIVE

 To determine the effect of gibberellin concentration for growth of a plant.

HYPOTHESIS

As hormones regulate the plant growth and development, the effects can be seen in length of root,
height of plant, number of branches and number of leaves. The lower the concentration of
Gibberellins (GA) hormone, the taller the plant is.
 LABORATORY REPORT: PLANT GROWTH HORMONE |4

MATERIALS

 Plant cuttings
 GA3 solutions (0, 0.01. 0.1, 1.0, 10.0 mgL-1)
 Test tubes
 Petri dishes
 Cotton
 Beakers

METHODS

1. Total number of 20 healthy plant cuttings were placed in test tubes accordingly which
contained GA3 solutions.
2. Each plant cuttings placed in a test tube that contained different concentration of GA3
solutions (0, 0.01. 0.1, 1.0, 10.0 mgL-1).
3. The plant cuttings were watered alternatively for 4 weeks.
4. The height of plant (cm), number of branches, the root length and number of leaves in
each plant were measured every three days for 4 weeks and the data was recorded in
Table 2.
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RESULTS
a) Plant Height
i. 10 mg / L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)
1 10 6.5 10
3 10.5 6.8 10.5
7 12 7 10.4
10 12 7 11
15 12 7.2 11.3
20 12 7.8 11.5

Height of Plant (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

14
12
Height of Plant (cm)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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ii. 1.0 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)
1 11.5 15 13
3 11.8 15 13
7 13 15.5 13
10 13 15.5 13
15 13 16 13.2
20 13 16 13.5

Height of Plant (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

18
16
Height of Plant (cm)

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iii. 0.1 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)
1 12.5 13 15
3 12.6 13 15
7 13 13.5 15
10 13 13.5 15
15 13 14 15.5
20 13 14 15.5

Height of Plant (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

18
16
Height of Plant (cm)

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iv. 0.01 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)
1 11.5 13.2 14.5
3 11.5 13.2 14.5
7 13 13.2 15.2
10 14 13.2 15.7
15 14 16 16
20 14 16 17

Height of Plant (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

18
16
Height of Plant (cm)

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
 LABORATORY REPORT: PLANT GROWTH HORMONE |9

v. 0 mg /L (dH2O)
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)
1 19.5 14 12
3 19.5 14 12.3
7 19.8 14.2 12.3
10 20 14.2 12.6
15 20.2 14.5 13.2
20 20.4 14.5 13.2

Height of Plant (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm)
Test tube C (cm) Expon. (Test tube A (cm))
Expon. (Test tube B (cm)) Expon. (Test tube C (cm))
25
Height of Plant (cm)

20
15
10
5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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b) Number of Leaves
i. 10 mg / L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 24 25 22
3 23 25 22
7 20 22 22
10 20 20 18
15 20 20 17
20 17 18 17

Number of Leaves versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

30

25
Number of Leaves

20

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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ii. 1.0 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 9 18 7
3 9 19 7
7 10 20 7
10 10 15 6
15 12 12 6
20 12 12 6

Number of Leaves versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

25

20
Number of Leaves

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iii. 0.1 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 9 28 21
3 9 28 21
7 8 29 22
10 8 29 22
15 7 29 22
20 7 30 23

Number of Leaves versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
Expon. (Test tube A ) Expon. (Test tube B ) Expon. (Test tube C )
35
30
Number of Leaves

25
20
15
10
5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iv. 0.01 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 12 18 22
3 13 18 22
7 15 18 22
10 15 19 22
15 18 20 22
20 18 20 23

Number of Leaves versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

25

20
Number of Leaves

15

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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v. 0 mg /L (dH2O)
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 8 15 12
3 8 15 12
7 8 15 12
10 7 15 11
15 7 15 11
20 7 15 11

Number of Leaves versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
Expon. (Test tube A ) Expon. (Test tube B ) Expon. (Test tube C )
16
14
Number of Leaves

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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c) Number of Branches
i. 10 mg / L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 8 10 5
3 8 10 5
7 9 10 5
10 9 10 5
15 9 10 6
20 9 11 6

Number of Branches versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
Expon. (Test tube A ) Expon. (Test tube B ) Expon. (Test tube C )
12
Number of Branches

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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ii. 1.0 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 7 9 6
3 7 9 6
7 8 10 6
10 8 10 6
15 9 10 7
20 9 10 8

Number of Branches versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

12

10
Number of Branches

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iii. 0.1 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 6 9 5
3 6 9 5
7 6 10 5
10 7 10 5
15 6 10 5
20 6 10 5

Number of Branches versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

12

10
Number of Branches

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iv. 0.01 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 9 7 8
3 9 7 8
7 11 7 8
10 11 8 8
15 12 10 8
20 12 10 7

Number of Branches versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

14
12
Number of Branches

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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v. 0 mg /L (dH2O)
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

1 7 11 5
3 7 11 5
7 7 11 5
10 7 12 6
15 8 12 6
20 8 12 6

Number of Branches versus Number of Days

Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C

14
12
Number of Branches

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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d) Length of Root
i. 10 mg / L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)

1 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
7 0 0 0
10 0.3 0.2 0.2
15 0.3 0.2 0.3
20 0.3 0.3 0.3

Length of Root (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

0.35
0.3
Length of Root (cm)

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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ii. 1.0 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)

1 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
7 0 0 0.1
10 0.3 0.3 0.3
15 0.3 0.3 0.4
20 0.4 0.3 0.5

Length of Root (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

0.6

0.5
Length of Root (cm)

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iii. 0.1 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)

1 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
7 0 0 0
10 0.3 0 0.3
15 0.3 0.2 0.3
20 0.4 0.3 0.3

Length of Root (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

0.45
0.4
Length of Root (cm)

0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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iv. 0.01 mg /L
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)

1 0 0 0
3 0 0 0
7 0 0 0.2
10 0.2 0.5 0.2
15 0.3 0.5 0.3
20 0.3 0.6 0.3

Length of Root (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

0.7
0.6
Length of Root (cm)

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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v. 0 mg /L (dH2O)
Day Test tube A Test tube B Test tube C
(cm) (cm) (cm)

1 0 0 0
3 0 0 0.2
7 0.2 0.3 0.2
10 0.2 0.4 0.4
15 0.4 0.4 0.5
20 0.5 0.5 0.6

Length of Root (cm) versus Number of Days

Test tube A (cm) Test tube B (cm) Test tube C (cm)

0.7
0.6
Length of Root (cm)

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Number of Days
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DISCUSSION
The gibberellins are metabolic products of the fungus Gibberella fujikuroi (conidial state Fusarium
moniliforme). Three gibberellins are known: gibberellic acid (C19H22O6), gibberellin A1
(C19H24O6) and gibberellin A2 (C19H26O6). A structure for gibberellic acid has been proposed.
Gibberellin A1 is a dihydro derivative of gibberellic acid. The structure of gibberellin A2 has not
yet been established.

The most characteristic effects of GA on shoot growth are increased inter‐node extension,
increased leaf‐growth and enhanced apical dominance. Gibberellins are a group of plant hormones
responsible for growth and development. They are important for initiating seed germination. Low
concentrations can be used to increase the speed of germination, and they stimulate cell elongation
so plants grow taller. As we can see from results above, the height of the plants becomes taller
when the concentration of gibberellin is low. There is evidence from several sources that GA only
influences cell extension if auxin is present.

Under some circumstances, with some plant species, treatment with GA does not stimulate
growth of intact roots, though some root sections do respond by increased growth. High
concentrations of GA are only slightly inhibitory, results in increased dry weight. This is mainly
due to increased carbon fixation and is believed to be a secondary effect of increased leaf growth.
Gibberellins hormone doesn’t show much effect on number of leaves and number of branches.
Plant hormone such as abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in leaf abscission. There are
also no much difference in the length of root as the concentration of gibberellins gets higher.

Not all plants respond to GA by increased shoot growth and the effect on some species is
greater than that on others. In species in which dwarf mutants are known, the dwarf may frequently
be induced by GA to grow in a form in‐distinguishable from that of the tall phenotype, genetically
tall plants themselves being unaffected.

Many forms of dormancy are broken by GA. These include seed dormancy, dormancy of
potato tubers and dormancy of shoot internodes and buds. Gibberellins can be used to end seed
dormancy, promote flowering and increase fruit size. Seed lethargy must be broken for seeds to
grow, and this should be possible by utilizing gibberellins. Seedless grapes are showered with
gibberellins to expand their size.
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Some hormones slow the ripening of fruits and others speed it up. These hormones and
their inhibitors are useful for delaying ripening during transport or when fruit is displayed in shops.
Ethene is a plant hormone which causes fruit to ripen. Ethene is used routinely within the food
industry to provide controlled ripening during storage and transport or when fruit is displayed in
shops, in sealed packages. Bananas are picked when they are green and unripe. Ethene is a
hydrocarbon gas and it speeds up ripening in bananas and other fruit. The effect of ethene released
from bananas is clearly visible if you keep them in a bowl with other fruit, as it causes other fruits
to ripen very quickly.
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CONCLUSION

The hypothesis is accepted. Hormone gibberellin affected the elongation of stem by degrading the
repressor of GA response. Hormone of gibberellin plays an important role in elongation during
plant development. That is the reason, we use gibberellin hormone to observe the plant growth.
The lower the concentration of gibberellin hormone, the higher the height of the plant. That is
mean the plant growth increase when the concentration of the hormone is low. Not all plants
respond to GA by increased shoot growth and the effect on some species is greater than that on
others. In species in which dwarf mutants are known, the dwarf may frequently be induced by GA
to grow in a form in‐distinguishable from that of the tall phenotype, genetically tall plants
themselves being unaffected.
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REFERENCES

Koratkar, S. (2016, February 24). Mechanism of Gibberellin Action in Higher Plants (With
Diagram). Retrieved from http://www.biologydiscussion.com/plants/growth-of-
plants/mechanism-of-gibberellin-action-in-higher-plants-with-diagram/23396

P. W. Brian. (1959, February). Effects of Gibberellins on Plant Growth and Development.

Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-
185X.1959.tb01301.x

Ann Bot. (2012, July). Tall or short? Slender or thick? A plant strategy for regulating elongation
growth of roots by low concentrations of gibberellin. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3394641/
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ATTACHMENTS

Picture 1: Hibiscus Plant (Day 7)

Picture 2: Hibiscus Plant (Day 20)