Student Sheet 6

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Investigating Plant Growth Regulators

Questions

1. In Investigation 1, what happened to the 'seminodes' where the lamina had been
removed? What happened to the 'seminodes' with intact leaves? How can you
explain this?

2. In Investigation 2, you used two substances on the leaf stumps. Suggest what this is
designed to show. Explain your results.

3. What do your results for Investigation 2 say about the laminas in investigation 1?

4. Does this prove that IAA is the compound responsible for the prevention of
abscission? Give a reason fot your answer. Suggest how you could improve the
experiments to investigate this point.

5. What eventually happens to the seminodes in Investigation 2 with lanolin and IAA?
Suggest an explanation for this.

6. Suppose the leaf produces an inhibitor to abscission. Design a fair test to investigate
if it is part of the leaf or all or the leaf which is responsible. Does 'age' of leaf have an
effect?

Investigations

 What influences the development of axillary buds into side-shoots?

 Which part of the leaf produces the inhibitor?

 What influences root development from the axils?