Aperfeiçoamento do Clinostato 3D e seu uso no estudo dos efeitos da microgravidade em sementes de milho

Abstract

The gravity is a force present in entire world and acted during the evolutionary process of the all species. Every biological structure present on Earth is adapted to this force. The growing of the plants is guided by gravity. The root cells knows that they have to grown on direction of this force and the stem cells knows that they have to grown on the opposite direction. This tropism caused by gravity is not effective in microgravity environments. Studies with microgravity equipment, as The 3D Clinostat improved in this work, show similar results as obtained in spaceships. These equipments are, for the science, very important. They help to develop microgravity experiments in the surface of the Earth, with low price and many possibilities of customization. The prime objective of this work is to improve a 3D Clinostat prototype. New motors and a microcontroller was added to improve robustness, confiability and compatibility to new features and designs. To evaluate the equipment modification, an experiment was made using seeds of maize. The seeds were put into equipment for two periods of time, 8 and 22 hours. After, the seeds were cultivated and the data was analyzed. The data shows significant statistical difference between the plants provided by the equipment seeds and the others, in both periods of time (p<0.01 and p<0,0001). The equipment was validated by the experiment. The results shown difference in grown level. More studies are necessary to explain why microgravity change the maize seeds grown speed.