The stems that were being rotated were unable to feel a constant directional effect of gravity, while the non rotated stems did, which means that gravity had a 14.4° change on the root angle. Additionally, they placed one stem section upright and another stem section upside down in a beaker. After the roots were allowed to grow, they found that the stem grown upside down changed the root angle by 22.1°. This was because the plant was experiencing gravity from the opposite direction. Plants sense gravity using statoliths in their roots. By cutting a cross section of the root and staining them, the researchers found that statoliths are present in adventitious root nodes no matter the age of the node. Ultimately, gravity was found to have a moderate effect on the growth of the adventitious roots.
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