Aloha,
My partner Yash and I have been assigned a phenotyping project. Phenotypes are the physical characteristics of plants. One such characteristic is growth rate. The professors goal is to understand how plants growth rate changes based on environment. This is possible because Hawaii has a large range of climates from one side of the island to another.
The lab is currently growing in two fields to represent different environments. This week we have spent a great deal of time in these fields. As an intern it is not only my job to complete my own goal but also to assist in the other experiments. Because our work is genetic things get busy when the plants reach sexual maturity. This means a lot of corn farming. We’re spending at least two hours and up to five hours a day in the feild. Each feild is cleared of weeds. Then we have to add row tags showing the genetic make up of each row of plants so that when it is time to breed we will know what crosses to make. We have also been shoot bagging. Shoot bagging is covering the female organ of each plant as it reaches sexual maturity. We have to do this so the plants don’t pollinate on their own and we can pollinate with the correct partner for the desired genetic cross. While this is hard work under the Hawaiian sun, I am learning a lot about mutations and plant breeding.
This is the view from one of our fields:
For the fourth of July I went to Ala Moana beach park and watched the fireworks.
Saturday evening I went to two festivals (after working all morning)
I’m getting to learn the island bit by bit. I just hope I can continue to do so when the feild gets even busier.
Aloha,
Rachael Burson
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