Effects of KCl Additive on Chlorophyll Concentration and Plant Structure
Authors:
- Students:
- Yusra Abdelrahman
- Elliot Flores
- Adriana Hall
- Jessica Kasprzak
- Patrick Mulcahy
- Bianca Ravesloot
- Teachers:
- Christopher Repa
- Mentors:
- Benjamin Diroll (Argonne National Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Materials)
Center for Nanoscale Materials
As one of the largest sources of potassium for plants, necessary for both fighting against abiotic & biotic immune stressors and catalyzing plant metabolism, Potassium chloride (KCl) is the “most widely applied K fertilizer.”* This makes further research into the effects of KCl fertilizer both relevant and necessary for further agricultural development. Although the correlation between potassium chloride and plant growth has been well studied—showing a strong positive correlation between added KCl and grain yield*—we hope to make advancements in understanding the compound’s effect on various sections of the plant. Our research included analyzing the plant wall structure via electron microscopy, studying the effect on chlorophyll concentration using colorimetric analysis, and observing whether an excess or deficit of KCl powder affects a plant’s composition through Raman spectroscopy & quantitative data from electron microscopy imaging. Our aim was that the conclusions of our tests would strengthen the aforementioned positive correlation between KCl and plant growth and yield. We hoped to prove the substance useful in further commercial fertilizer development by finding an optimal potassium concentration for not only growth, but plant health in relation to chlorophyll fluorescence and cell wall thickness.