When teaching students about the mitotic cell division, the most commonly used practice in secondary schools is the observation of the division phases of the onion root (Allium cepa). Here's my practicum recipe for the observation of onion root mitotic phase, along with the sample of results, data analysis of data and discussions. The observation in this article based on the observation that the author really did.
Tools and materials used
Set of Object Glass
Candles and lighters
Plastic and rubber
Root tip of onion (Allium cepa)
HCl 1 N
Step 1: Preparation
First we must grow the root of onion, to grow the root, put the onion on the surface plastic glass with water. Pierce horizontally in the middle of onion, so that only the root touching the water. Let it grow in 1 week (7 days). After the root growing, cut the tip of root, more or less 1 cm. Put the tip in vial bottle that was filled with a solution of FAA, then vial bottle sealed with plastic and tied with rubber.
Step 2: Execution
first thing to do is to make preparats, then continued with the observation the phases of mitosis under the microscope. To make the preparats, we must take the tip of onion root from vial bottle with tweezers then put it on watch glass and pour with alcohol 70%. Let it be in 2 minutes.
After 2 min, remove the alcohol 70% using suction paper, then add 1 N HCl solution then soak for 5 minutes. After 5 min, take the onion root from watch glass, cut the tip (root cap) and put it on a object glass.
The next step is drop acetocarmin on onion root and chopped with a rusty razor blade, followed by closed using a cover slip. Before observed under a microscope, preparats have to passed over the candle, then grinding it with your thumb or the blunt end of a pencil, then observed under a microscope.
Anonim. 2004. The Cell Cycle & Mitosis Tutorial. (Online). http://www.biology. arizona.edu/cell_bio/tutorials/cell_cycle/cells3.html, diakses tanggal 28 Februari 2007
Margono, Hadi. 1973. Pengaruh Colchicine terhadap pertumbuhan Memanjang Akar Bawang Merah (Alium cepa). Skripsi tidak diterbitkan. Malang: IKIP
Setjo, Susetyoadi. 2004. Anatomi Tumbuihan. Malang: JICA.