We have been very busy in class recently. We undertook a three week plant germination experiment. Students wanted to see how salt influenced germination rates in two plant species that are used for human consumption. Corn, which Iowans are very familiar with, and radish's. There are many places around the world where salinity is a major problem for crop lands, and if lands aren't properly managed, soil can be inhospitable to crop growth. Australia is a great example, as removing native vegetation and irrigating has drawn up salt from well below the soil. We designed a simple experiment to see how different salinity levels influence germination, and to see if both species responded similarly.
Pictured here is our experiment. Each petri dish has 5 seeds of radish or corn. 2 species x 4 treatments, replicated by 6 class periods.
No comments:
Post a Comment