PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

LAB MANUAL

PLANT
PHYSIOLOGY

LABORATORY MANUAL

PROF. MADYA DR.

NORRIZAH JAAFAR SIDIK

PROF. MADYA DR. SECA

GANDASECA

2023 Universiti Teknologi MARA

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PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
LAB MANUAL

PLANT
PHYSIOLOGY

LABORATORY MANUAL

2023 Universiti Teknologi MARA

2
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
LAB MANUAL

PLANT
PHYSIOLOGY
LABORATORY MANUAL

2023 Universiti Teknologi MARA

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PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
LAB MANUAL

CONTENTS
List of Figures

Forward

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Experiment 1 PLANT STRUCTURE AND ANATOMY

Experiment 2 STOMATAL DISTRIBUTION ON LEAVES OF

SEVERAL SELECTED PLANTS

Experiment 3 TRANSPIRATION AS A MECHANISM OF WATER

TRANSPORT IN THE CELERY XYLEM

Experiment 4 SEED GERMINATION USING HYDROPHONIC

SYSTEM

Experiment 5 PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND RESPIRATION

Experiment 6 STERILISATION TECHNIQUE IN PLANT TISSUE

CULTURE AND CALLUS INDUCTION

References

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LAB MANUAL

Lab Report Guidelines

1. Reports should be typed and double-spaced. Do not include a separate title page; type the
title at the top of the first page (save trees!). Be sure to label each section (Introduction,
Materials and Methods, etc.). Figures and tables should be created using a spreadsheet or
graphics program and may be inserted into the text.

2. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! You may NOT lift phrases or sentences from any source except
your own brain, unless you use appropriate citations. Your lab report must be your work; not
your classmate’s work. If you do plagiarize, NO CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN.

REPORTS SHOULD BE ORGANIZED IN THE FOLLOWING MANNER:

Title: Your title should convey the main concept of the lab. The title should be clear and
concise, yet descriptive.

Introduction: Provide a few statements describing the importance and/or background of the
project. Why is this work interesting? What can you tell us about the system you
investigated? State your objectives and your question clearly.

Methods and Materials: Describe what you did and how you did it. Ideally, if someone
else reads your report, they should be capable of recreating your work.

Results: Show in table and/or figure format the results obtained from your work. You must
ALSO describe these visual aids in WORDS. What does the graph say? What does the table
summarize? What kind of trends in your data do you observe? Tables and figures should be
appropriately labeled so that someone unfamiliar with your project can understand the results.
Please pay particular attention to axes labels, legends, and titles. See figure and table
examples provided below for formatting suggestions. Note: By convention, figures are
always labeled at the BOTTOM of the figure and tables are always labeled at the TOP.

Discussion: The discussion is a chance for you to briefly restate the objectives, approach, and
outcome of your project. Then you should respond to two general questions: Were your
results what you expected? Why or why not? Use your insight and knowledge of your
project to make educated interpretations of your results. Discuss whether these results were
expected. Describe why or why not these results fit your expectation.

Conclusion

Post-Lab Questions

References: If you use references, please cite them appropriately.

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LAB MANUAL

EXPERIMENT 1
PLANT MORPHOLOGY AND ANATOMY

1. INTRODUCTION

The vascular plant is composed of three basic organs: roots, stems and leaves. These result
from the growth of meristems, areas of cells that retain the capability of cell division. The
structure of roots, stems and leaves reflects their basic functions in vascular plants. Roots
have a high surface area, an adaptation that facilitates the absorption of water. Stems have
evolved with cellular modifications that support the leaves in the air. Leaves have a high
surface area, an adaptation to capture the sunlight by photosynthetic tissues. All of these
structures are interconnected by vascular tissue, which transport the photoassimilates
throughout the entire plant.

There are two types of leaf morphologies that are a perfect example of structure-function
relationship. The majority of plants are so called C3 plants. These plants carry out the carbon
fixation reaction of photosynthesis in most of their cells containing chlorophyll. On the other
hand, C4 plants carry out carbon fixation into the Calvin cycle only in specialized cells that
are close to the vascular bundles and shielded as far as possible away from the surface of the
leaf to avoid contact with oxygen, since contact with oxygen diminishes overall
photosynthetic yield.

In C4 plants, the bundle-sheath cells are much larger and more regular than mesophyll cells in
C3 plants. Examples of C4 plants are sugarcane and maize. C3 plants are divided in palisade
and spongy parenchyma. Mesophyl cells are in loose contact with phloem cells in the vascular
bundle. Air spaces allow direct contact of O 2 with the carbon-fixing cells. C4 plants have an
extra layer of bundle sheath cells surrounding the vasculature. Bundle sheath cells are
shielded from O2 from the outside of the leaf by tight layers of mesophyl cells.

2. OBJECTIVES

1. To examine the structures and morphology of C3 and C4 plants.

1. To identify and compare the anatomy of different plant cells and tissues.

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3. MATERIALS

Plant A and Plant B

Eosin
Prepared slaid (Cross-section of root)
Cover slip
Filter paper
Scalpel/Razor blade
Forceps
Beaker
Tiles
Microscopes
Tissue

4. PROCEDURES

4.1 Stems

1. Obtain and examine the morphology of plant A and B with leaves and root.

2. Remove soil from the plant.

3. Dip the stem and leaves specimen in water so that it is wet.

4. Wet the razor blade and fingers and with water. Water should drip from your fingers during

sectioning.

5. Slice off thin section of the stem on the tiles.

6. Put a few drops of eosin on the thin sections for 5-10 minutes.

7. Transfer carefully the stem on the slaids and put a few drops of distilled water.

8. To apply the coverslip, hold it at an angle and touch the water drop with one edge. Lower
the coverslip slowly to avoid air bubbles. Use a tissue to remove excess fluid from the slide
before you place it on the microscope or the slide will stick to the stage.

9. Observe under the microscope.

10. Draw your observation under low and high magnification.

(See if you can distinguish xylem from phloem cells. In the cross section, look for the
different tissue types. In the cross section also look for vascular bundles and cells that divide
xylem and phloem).

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4.2. Leaves

1. Cut a thin slice of cross section of the the C3 and C4 leaves

2. Observe the C3 and C4 leaves under the microscope.

3. Draw and label your observation under low and high magnification.

4.3 Roots

1. Observe the prepared slides provided (root).

(Label your drawing with each cell/tissue type and don’t forget to write on your drawing the
name of the plant, the magnification, organ, and the type of section (cross section vs.
longitudinal etc).

5. RESULTS (DRAWING WITH LABELLING)

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6. DISCUSSION

7. CONCLUSION

8. POST-LAB QUESTIONS

1. Describe the morphology characteristics of plant A and plant B.

2. How are the leaves arranged on the stem in plant A? Are they whorled (two or more at a
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node)? Are they opposite (two leaves 180 degrees apart at the same node)? Or, are they
alternate (one leaf per node)?

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