Blog #11

Eyster HC. CATALASE ACTIVITY IN CHLOROPLAST PIGMENT DEFICIENT TYPES OF CORN.Plant Physiol. 1950 Oct;25(4):630–638.

OSKI VM, SMITH JHC. Chlorophyll formation in a mutant, white seedling-3. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1951 Nov;34(1):189–195.

Trumble, PhD. Effect of Nitrogen Fertilization on Aphis gossypii: Variation in Size, Color, and Reproduction. Journal of Economic Entomology. 2001 Feb;1(1):27-32.

These documents were initially really difficult to comprehend but they ended up being helpful in the process of forming our hypothesis and setup. We were not sure which variable to manipulate that would affect color of the corn, so these resources helped us understand the effects of fertilizer. These documents are really complex so we ended up getting a deeper understanding of genetics pertaining to corn.

Blog #12

Exciting news! We are finally starting to see some growth in our corn plants. Incidentally, the containers with no fertilizer have grown the most. The ones with 1/2 fertilizer have grown some, and the containers with the most fertilizer haven't at all. We were surprised to find this as we anticipated that the fertilizer would positively influence the plants' growth. However, Mr. Calos pointed out that the germination process is different than the actual growing process so perhaps that is why we haven't seen more growth from the plants with more fertilizer. So far, our daily activities have included watering the plants, checking to see any differences, and recording those that we do see on our shared google doc. We have also been taking pictures of the plants to track progress. Here is a picture of the plant with the most progress and most fertilizer. This one is what we presume to be a non-albino plant.

Blog #10

Our organism and supplies have arrived! Last Wednesday, we were able to start setting up our experiment and plan out our first steps. To start, we found plastic containers (essentially small salad containers) to perfectly accommodate our corn seeds. We figured out the numbers and ratios for our containers so we would be able to properly fill them with the right amount of soil and fertilizer.
After we worked out the logistics, we took a cup of fertilizer pellets and ground them into a fine powder with a coffee grinder. We then filled each of the plastic containers with soil and mixed in the fertilizer. During this process, we weighed the containers in units of grams to make sure they had the correct amount. This was perhaps the most enjoyable part of the experiment thus far, as we really got to be hands-on. We labeled each of the containers according to the variation of corn we would plant inside. The final step of the setup is to figure out how many corn seeds should go in each container. Then, we will plant them at last! The research we've done has indicated that it should take roughly 3-6 days to start seeing growth. So far we do not have any pictures but stay tuned for an upcoming post!
Here is a picture of our newly planted corn seeds.