BIOL 114: The Effect of matcha on Arabidopsis thaliana growth and development

Matcha is a powdered green tea that has bioactive compounds that affect the growth of plants around it. We applied matcha powder to our bottom-watering sequence using four different groups of wild-type or unknown mutant (25026) Arabidopsis thaliana plants. We compared it with control groups receiving normal water. Over three weeks, we monitored the leaf diameter of each plant to analyze the growth within each group. Matcha application yielded early differences, with wild-type showing better growth, but this difference was negligible by the end of the experiment. We conclude that the unknown mutant (25026) may have a detrimental early growth phenotype in the presence of chemicals found in matcha.