Abstract

Lemnaceae, duckweed, is a plant that is found to grow on shallow bodies of water, such as ponds and ditches, from Canada to Mexico. Duckweed reproduces primarily by vegetative propagation (cloning). This allows the plants to reproduce rapidly and thus quickly colonize an entire area (Hillman 1961). Because of its cosmopolitan nature and its quick reproduction, duckweed has often been used in research. Recently, it has been discovered that duckweed is efficient at removing excess nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater (Sutton and Ornes 1975). In addition, research is being conducted to determine duckweed's viability as a supplement for livestock feed. However, not many research projects have been conducted to determine under what conditions duckweed should be grown to produce maximum yield. Therefore, I proposed to study how three types of duckweed react to changing nutrient levels, at high concentrations and at low concentrations.