Characterization of the Growth Curve

of Vigna radiata Using Height as Parameter1

Antonio L. Rayos, Jr.

BOT 132 T-1L

October 8, 2010

____________________
1
A scientific paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements in Botany 132
(Plant Growth) laboratory under Dr. Nina M. Cadiz, 1st sem., 2010-2011.
 ABSTRACT

The sigmoid pattern of growth is usual in the plants at various levels of

organization. The growth rate of mungbean plant under direct sunlight in soil was
characterized using height as parameter. The typical sigmoid curve for plants was
not observed from the graph obtained. The values of relative growth rate plotted
with time also did not conform to the expected trend because fluctuations with the
graph were observed. The possible reason for these errors in the experiment can
be attributed to the typhoon that occurred during the phase near the beginning of
the experiment. Flood stress may also be a factor for the phase of growth that
should have been the exponential phase. There sunlight was very strong and
heavy rains are frequent. The trend that the plants must cease growing around the
stage where fruit set occurred was observed.

INTRODUCTION

Vigna is a genus of flowering plant belonging to subfamily Papilionoideae of the very

large family of legumes, Leguminosae or Fabaceae (“Gray’s Manual,” 1950). The family

includes angiosperms with papilionaceous or sometimes regular flowers often having ten

monadelphous, diadelphous, or rarely distinct stamens, and a single simple free pistil. The fruit is

always a legume with exalbuminous seeds. The species belonging to the genus are usually

twining herbs of tropical and warm-temperate regions. The leaves are trifoliolate. The calyx is

five-toothed. The keel is merely arcuate and not coiled at the tip. The wing petals have prominent

auricle at the base. The stigma can be oblique or lateral. The flowers are borne in a racemose

inflorescence.

In the case of higher forms of plants, organization of plant body can be split into seven

levels: the whole plant, the main organ systems, the component organs, tissues, cells, organelles,

and molecules (Causton & Venus, 1981). In studying growth of plants, it should be noted that the

actual process of cell division is restricted to the meristematic regions of the plant which can

either be in the root or shoot apical meristems. At the organ level, only a certain percentage of
the cells are dividing. This percentage decreases with the increasing size of the organ due to the

approximately constant number of dividing cells. In measuring growth of higher plants, there are

two criteria being used: the destructive and the non-destructive measurement. In the destructive

measurement, fresh weight, dry weight, number of cells, and carbon content can be used as

parameter. This criterion destroys the plants in the study. In the non-destructive measurement,

overall height and numbers of leaves can be used as parameter. Measuring root growth is very

seldom used since uprooting the plant will damage its roots. This criterion is usually used in

examining growth of plants in the forest or the crop plants. Obviously, the destructive

measurement takes much longer time than the other.

The kinetics of plant growth shows that an S-shaped curve or sigmoid curve usually

describes the growth of plant when continuously measured over a certain time frame (Alfonso-

Alejar & Dionisio-Sese, 1999). The distinct phases of growth include the lag phase, exponential

phase, linear phase, stationary phase, and death phase. Went (1957) divided the life cycle of an

experimental plant into the following stages in chronological order: germination, seedling growth

aboveground until transplanting time, first week after transplanting, recovery from transplanting

to floral initiation, floral initiation, floral initiation until opening of flowers, opening of flowers,

and opening of flowers to fruit ripening. However, this is not applicable to non-flowering plants.

Relative growth rates (RGS’s) of a population, described as the rate of increase per

parameter, accounts for variations in sizes of individuals and provides a convenient integration of

the combined performances of various parts of the plant or any other living macroorganism

(Porter & Lawlor, 1991). RGR can serve as an indicator of the potential reproductive success of

a population. A high RGR means an active stage of growth in a given population. A strategy that

allows certain plants to grow faster than any other plants yields a better chance of success than a
strategy that gives constrain to the growth rate of plants. The concept of natural selection also

applies to this. Plants with high RGR must be selectively favoured by the environment in a

population.

In experiment with plant growth, several considerations must be taken (Evans, 1972).

These include the nature of the plant being studied as well as the environment. Genetic factors

may confer influence on plant growth in specific environment. The response of a particular plant

to change in a particular environmental condition may not be linear. Fluctuations in environment

can possibly interfere with the usual trend in plant growth.

The experiment was conducted to characterize the growth rate of mungbean in soil under

direct sunlight and to determine if the typical sigmoid curve will be observed. This was done at

Institute of Biological Sciences, University of the Philippines Los Baños from June to September

2010.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Poorter & Garnier (1996) investigated different aspects of experimental designs and

computational methods of analyzing plant growth either analytically or by stimulating harvests

repeatedly from theoretical populations upon which were required the triggering growth curves

and the variability in plant material. The first part involved consequences of neglecting an ln-

transformation of the primary weight data. Significant differences between treatments were

found less readily transformed than in transformed data. The second part involved the evaluation

of the accuracy of estimates of RGR. It was found that variability in estimation of RGR linearly

increases with variability in plant material. It was also found that it is strongly dependent on the

time interval between harvests and number of replicates in a harvest. The probabilities of
arriving at erroneous RGR estimates are high even with conservative values for variability of

plant weight. It was concluded that the variability in the population must be reduced intentionally

unless the interest is in variability within the population. The third part involved evaluation of

three computational methods of fitting dry weight progressions and description of time trends in

RGR and related parameters of growth. It was found that Richards function was superior to

fitting of polynomials through either the weight data or the classically derived RGR values.

Many fruits have growth patterns of simple sigmoid type (Leopold, 1964). Examples of

these fruits include apple, pineapple, strawberry, pea, and tomato. However, other fruits

including stone fruits such as peach, apricot, plum, and cherry, and non-stone fruits such as fig,

grape, and currant exhibit an unusual growth curve termed as double sigmoid curve. There are

separate growth curves for internal parts of the fruit including embryo, endosperm, and mesocarp

in such case.

Friend, Trought, & Creasy (2009) reported that the seeded berries of grapes have double

sigmoid curve resulting from cell division and expansion. Staudt, Schneider, & Leidel (1986)

characterized berry growth in grapes. The definitions of phase boundary are arbitrary. The first

stage of rapid growth is characterized by the fast growth of the ovary and its contents except for

the embryo and endosperm (Arteca, 1996). The second stage, described as a plateau, includes the

growth of embryo and endosperm accompanied by lignifications of endocarp and negligible

growth of ovary wall. The third stage is characterized by the fast growth of the mesocarp layer

that promotes fast increase in fruit size. This is followed by maturation.

Sangakkara, Meylemans, & van Damme (1995) studied the impact of different types of

weed on growth and yield of mungbean under field conditions. Broadleaved species exhibited

greater undesirable effect than grasses. Sedges showed the least influence. Vegetative growth
was seen to be the most affected phase of growth. The impact on yield was similar. It was also

observed that weed biomass and yield loss are highly correlated. The authors presented some

possible implications for selective weeding based on the results.

Chen, Breene, & Schowalter (1987) studied the effects of growth regulators gibberellic

acid, ethephon, and abscisic acid on yield and quality of mungbean sprouts that were grown in an

automatically controlled chamber. Ethephon and gibberellic acid treatments on mungbean

sprouts led to greater dry weight than those of non-treated controls.

Wahid & Ghani (2008) conducted a study on varietal differences in mungbean in terms of

growth, yield, toxicity symptoms, and accumulation of cadmium. The study also found

differences in variety for chlorosis and necrosis of leaves of mungbean. Increased levels of

cadmium reduced the root and dry weight of the plant. The leaf area and number at various

stages of growth were also reduced. It was shown that cadmium stress caused chlorosis and

necrosis on young leaves, and senescence of old leaves was accelerated. Cadmium was found to

be mainly toxic to the mesophyll tissue.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

About fifty seeds of mungbean (Vigna radiata) were soaked overnight in a small plastic

container with sufficient amount of water. When the seed coat was ruptured, fifteen seedlings

were sowed in a prepared garden plot at about a foot apart from one seedling to another. The

garden plot was weeded prior to transplanting. The plants were watered regularly at every two to

three days.

Every two to three days, periodic height of the plants aboveground in centimeters were

taken using ruler, averaged, and tabulated in Table 1. Only the heights of five out of fifteen
plants were recorded in the table. The RGR values (k) were determined using the following

equation:

lnH = lnHi + kt

where: H= height of plant after time t

Hi= initial height of the plant

k= relative growth rate

In Figure 1, averaged height values (H) obtained was plotted against time. In Figure 2, natural

logarithm of the averaged height values (lnH) were plotted against time. Gathering of data on

plant height was done from the germination day designated as Day 0 until plateau was observed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 shows the data on measured periodic height of five out of fifteen mungbeans and

the calculated relative growth rate (k) values. The maximum average height attained in the data

was 63.82 cm, but the greatest height measured was 72.20 cm. Figure 1 shows the line graph of

averaged height values plotted against time. Figure 2 shows the line graph of the natural

logarithm of the averaged height values plotted against time. The illustrated growth stages of the

experimental plants were shown in Figure 3.

On the second day after germination, there were no leaves yet, but cotyledons are present.

The growth at this phase was very minimal. This can be because the growing embryo used the

stored food, the endosperm, during this phase resulting to minimal growth (Crocker & Barton,

1953). The hydrolysis and synthesis of biomolecules carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids was

carried by enzyme action. Amylases hydrolyze starch into glucose units that are used by the
growing embryo for growth. This period slow growth was observed from Day 0 to 2. This can

be also due to the fact that the seedlings are trying to adapt to the new environment. This can be

considered the most active phase of growth of the experimental plants.

Table 1. Periodic height of soil-grown mungbeans and the calculated relative growth rate values.
Days After Height (cm) k
Germination 1 2 3 4 5 Mean
0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 N.A.
2 0.30 0.20 0.40 0.10 0.10 0.22 N.A.
5 7.30 4.00 5.40 3.30 3.10 4.62 1.0148
7 9.00 4.80 6.10 5.80 4.40 6.02 0.1323
9 12.00 7.50 7.20 6.50 6.10 7.86 0.1333
12 15.80 11.20 9.70 7.60 8.10 10.48 0.0959
14 18.70 14.10 12.40 9.10 10.10 12.88 0.1031
16 22.30 17.50 15.20 12.00 13.10 16.02 0.1091
19 26.00 19.90 17.80 14.30 16.00 18.80 0.0533
21 29.50 22.40 19.30 16.10 18.10 21.08 0.0572
23 30.20 25.70 20.50 17.00 20.00 22.68 0.0366
26 37.10 29.10 24.40 23.70 23.00 27.46 0.0637
28 40.40 32.90 26.90 26.10 26.10 30.48 0.0522
30 43.20 35.20 29.10 28.60 29.50 33.12 0.0415
33 46.60 39.60 32.00 31.20 34.30 36.74 0.0346
35 49.90 42.10 34.40 34.00 37.90 39.66 0.0382
37 52.30 45.80 36.80 36.90 39.70 42.30 0.0322
40 56.60 49.40 39.90 40.20 44.30 46.08 0.0285
42 59.50 52.50 42.40 43.10 47.70 49.04 0.0311
44 62.20 55.30 45.20 46.10 51.20 52.00 0.0293
47 66.30 59.00 47.80 49.00 54.10 55.24 0.0201
49 68.90 60.30 49.60 52.40 57.50 57.74 0.0221
51 69.20 61.10 52.00 55.90 59.10 59.46 0.0146
54 70.50 61.40 56.40 56.30 62.10 61.34 0.0103
56 71.40 61.50 57.10 57.40 62.90 62.06 0.0058
58 72.10 61.70 57.90 58.00 63.50 62.64 0.0047
61 72.20 61.90 58.50 58.40 64.10 63.02 0.0020
63 72.20 62.10 59.70 58.90 64.90 63.56 0.0043
65 72.20 62.10 60.10 59.00 65.30 63.74 0.0014
68 72.20 62.10 60.10 59.40 65.30 63.82 0.0004

On the fifth day, first true leaves were observed. The period from Day 2 to 5 was

characterized by a very high value of RGR. However, this exponential growth phase was very
brief in the experiment. The period of exponential growth in plants is typically long. The period

from Day 2 to 47 was characterized by almost linear growth while this period in the life cycle of

mungbean, like most plants, is supposed to be exponential. It must be noted that typhoon

occurred around the twenty-third day after germination. The exponential phase of plant growth is

usually due to absence of constraints to growth, but in the experiment, there was. This

accompanied a decline in the RGR value of the plants. Different environmental factors influence

RGR changes. These factors include mineral nutrients, water, temperature, and light (Loomis,

1953). In general, the trend of the RGR values is characterized by decline through time.

Floral bud initiation was first observed around the thirty-seventh day followed by

anthesis on the forty-second day. This stage is the phase of maturation of the plants where they

express their full reproductive potential (Arteca, 1996). This floral initiation signals the end of

production of leaves (Alfonso-Alejar & Dionisio-Sese, 1999). Fruit set was first observed on the

forty-seventh day followed by maturation on the fifty-second day. Slowing down of growth was

observed after the forty-seventh day. This period of growth from Day 47 to 58 is the retardation

phase since the rate of growth is declining rapidly. When the fruits matured, the seeds were

observed to be much smaller than the seeds that were sown in the beginning of the experiment.

Seed weight suggests the quality of the offspring (Noodén, 2004). This can be attributed to the

stresses conferred by the environment to the growing plants. The period of growth from Day 58

to 68 is the stationary phase characterized by slackening of growth. These periods of retardation

and plateau can also be attributed to decrease of mineral nutrients in the soil as these nutrients

were already absorbed by the roots of the plants (Loomis, 1953). The RGR values during these

phases are already very low as seen in Table 1. These phases, based on the RGR values obtained,

are considered the most inactive phase of growth of the experimental plants.
Figure 1. The absolute growth rate of mungbean plants using height as growth parameter.

Figure 2. Relative growth rate (k) of the mungbean plants plotted against time in days showing
fluctuations in the exponential phase.
 The death phase was not observed in the experiment. This phase, if observed in the

experiment, will be seen as the decline of height of the plants. Senescence occurs during this last

stage of growth in plants. The process is described as the endogenously controlled deteriorative

changes naturally causing death of cells, tissues, organs, or even the whole organism (Arteca,

1996). This is thought as the terminal differentiation of the natural developmental process. This

is genetically programmed.

Using height as growth parameter in mungbean is a sufficient means of characterizing the

growth rate of the plant because the growth of the youngest leaves near the apex is always faster

than the growth of the older leaves near the base. The youngest leaves are suspended in higher

than the apical buds. The growth of the youngest leaves was observed to inhibit the growth of the

older leaves below. The growth of the older leaves is negligible compared to the growth of the

younger leaves. In other plants like corn, height can also be used as growth parameter because

the growth pattern is not characterized by branches at the base.

In other plants like soybean, growth can be measured by dry weight. Kawamoto, Saito, &

Kiritani (1986) proposed a model for soybean growth on the basis of compensatory growth that

follows defoliation. They modified the model proposed by Rudd in 1980 that involves allocation

of dry matter. Dry weight is a reliable parameter of quantifying growth because it implies the

total synthesis of biomolecules in the plant. The dry weight is a reliable basis of expressing

chemical analyses of plant weight because water content in plants is highly variable (Alejar et

al., 2009).
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The growth rate of mungbean plants under direct sunlight in soil was characterized using

height as parameter. It can be considered that height is sufficient as a parameter of growth in

mungbean. The expected sigmoid curve for plants was not observed from the graph obtained by

plotting periodic height against time in days. Several factors are suggested to have interfered

with the results of the experiment. Fluctuations in the environment can possibly meddle with

plant growth, causing disruption of the usual pattern.

The values of relative growth rate plotted with time also did not conform to the expected

trend. Fluctuations with the graph were observed, but the general trend of the RGR values is

characterized by decrease through time. The possible reason for these errors in the experiment

can be attributed to stresses to the plants including the typhoon that occurred during the twenty-

third day after germination. Other factors include the flood stress given by frequent heavy rains

that may have leached mineral nutrients. There sunlight was frequently very strong. Another

factor is the presence of pests. Herbivore damages were observed in the plants. However, the

trend that the plants must cease growing around the stage where fruit set occurred was observed.

It is suggested that a more controlled setup will be used when conducting the study for better

experimental results. It can therefore be concluded that when studying plant growth, the sigmoid

curve is not always observed due to presence of other factors that interfere with the process of

plant growth.
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