Clinorotation affects soybean seedling morphology.
Although spaceflight does not appear to significantly affect seed germination, it can influence subsequent plant growth.  On STS-3 and SL-2, decreased growth (measured as plant length, fresh weight and dry weight) was noted for pine, oat and mung bean.  In the CHROMEX-01 and -02 experiments with Haplopappus and in the CHROMEX-03 experiment with Arabidopsis, enhanced root growth was noted in the space-grown plants.  In the CHROMEX-04 experiment with wheat, both leaf fresh weight and leaf area were diminished in the space-grown plants but there was no difference in total plant height (CS Brown, HG Levine, and AD Krikorian, unpublished data).  These data suggest that microgravity impacts growth by whole plant partitioning of assimilates.  The objective of the present study was to determine the influence of clinorotation on the growth and morphology of soybean seedlings grown in the BRIC (Biological Research In Canister) flight hardware.  This experiment provided baseline data for a spaceflight experiment (BRIC-03) flown on STS-63 (Feb. 3-11, 1995).
Hilaire
E
E
Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506-4901, USA.
Guikema
J A
JA
Brown
C S
CS
D006112:Gravitation; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D012399:Rotation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013025:Glycine max / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D013026:Space Flight; D018531:Spacecraft / Q000295:instrumentation; D014893:Weightlessness; D018474:Weightlessness Simulation