Introduction
The purpose of this experiment is to observe the effects of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) on the germination rate of Wisconsin Fast Plants.
Wisconsin Fast Plants (WFPs), or Brassica rapa, are plants in the Cruciferous family, developed through selective breeding from a strain of Himalayan weeds (Williams). WFPs have a life cycle of around forty days. This short life cycle makes WFPs valuable for laboratory study. In addition, WFPs are simple to grow, as they only need water and a light source to survive (Williams). Their simple needs, allowing ease in controlling variables, make WFPs ideal for use in experiments.
Germination is the stage of plant growth through which a seed becomes a seedling plant. First, the seed begins to absorb water and the radicle root emerges from the seed coat and into the water. Then, the primary roots grow, the cotyledons move above ground, the stem begins to grow, and leaves develop. The process is complete when the first leaves open and the cotyledons fall off (The Learning Garden 2001).
NaCl has been shown to have a negative effect on plant growth (Lee and Van Iersal 2016) and germination (Houle et al. 2001). The severity of these effects depends on the individual species’ ability to grow in saline soil (Atkins et al. 2009). WFPs are part of a group of plants called glycophytes, meaning that they have a limited ability to tolerate NaCl (Atkins et al. 2009). A study specific to WFP germination found a decrease in germination in WFPs
There were two types of plants used. Both were of the same species, Brassica rapa but two of the plants contained rosette shaped complexes that were deficient in producing gibberellic acid compared to the wild-type plants. Therefore, they grew smaller and shorter as a phenotype. The Brassicaceae family includes cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, and many others. (
Our data recorded shows that the germinating peas did consume more oxygen than the non-germinating or the glass beads alone and that the cooler temperature did slow down the consumption of oxygen in the germinating peas. In both water baths the atmospheric pressure seemed to increase causing our reading to raise in our glass beads and non-germinating peas. This direct relationship in reading leads us to believe that the oxygen consumption in the non-germinating peas was minimal if any at all.
Dicots are present throughout our ecosystem and everyday life. Without these species of plants, humans would not be able to survive and our ecosystem would be unbalanced. The dicot used in this experiment was a bean seed. Characteristics include two cotyledons, reticulated leave veins, flower petals in multiples of four or five, taproot system and, vascular system that is divided into 2; cortex and stele ("Monocot vs Dicot." - Difference and Comparison 2015). Nutrients are a key element for survival and development of a dicot plant. In this experiment the bean seed will be exposed to high levels of salt concentration (1.0ml) and low salt concentrations (0.5ml) which, will be compared to the one with no salt. The expected result from this experiment
There are many ways to obtain seeds to grow flowers in the springtime, but not all seeds were created equal. Sunflower seeds, for example, can be bought at a garden store in a packet for $1.5 dollars per 6 gram packet, but they can also be found in bird seed for $3.53 dollars per 10 pounds. This experiment intends to find if the germination of a store bought packet of sunflower seeds matches the germination rate of sunflower seeds obtained from a bag of bird seed. While both seeds will germinate, it is believed that the bird seed will not be as robust in growth as the garden seed, due to the fact that the garden seed is made to be grown, while the bird seed is made for consumption.
Looking back at the experiment, my hypothesis was not correct because seeds that were in a concentration of more than 6.25% of saltwater did germinate. Furthermore, Eighty percent (four out of five) seeds in our control group germinated because the water was pure and didn’t have any NaCl in it. The one seed that didn’t germinate was probably because it was either too dry or wasn’t spaced out enough to grow. The results indicated that the lower the NaCl concentration in the water, the higher the number of germinated seeds were and the plastic bags with the higher concentration rate had very few seeds that germinated. However, there were a few odd results. For example, the bag with the 25% concentration rate had more seeds germinate than the bag with the 12.5%
The average height of the wild type Brassica rapa plants treated with gibberellic acid was 5.91 cm and was taller after 15 days of growth than the wild type Brassica rapa plants treated with water, which were 5.60
On the first day, four Styrofoam cups were obtained, and with the use of a pencil, holes were punched in the bottom of each of the cups in order to provide the plants with water. Cups were labelled in sequence: rosette-water, rosette-gibberellic acid, wild-type-water, and wild-type-gibberellic acid. Each cup then received approximately one inch of moistened soil. Following the addition of soil, 3 pellets of fertilizers were placed in each of the cups. Then, an additional inch of soil was placed over the pellets in each of the cups. Once the soil was settled, seeds were added to the cups. There were two types of seeds: rosette Brassica rapa seeds and wild-type Brassica rapa seeds.
Growth rates in response to pH levels were researched using Salvinia minima plants. A total of twenty-seven plants were selected and isolated from the pond inside the Stony Brook Unversity greenhouse. Upon isolation, they were placed into three groups: the control, the acid, and the base. The plants were carefully observed and were visited every two days to note the changes. Measurements of the surface area and the weight demonstrated that there was more progress seen in the plants that were in acidic water than those in normal pond water and basic conditions. Our results supported our hypothesis that S. minima plants exhibit a higher growth rate when placed in water with acidic pH levels. Therefore, this study constitutes an essential contribution to understanding the invasiveness of this species and how pH levels can affect the development of S. minima plants and by offering alternatives to controlling the invasiveness of this species.
The first structure to appear in a germinating seedling is a root. This is so that the seedling can acquire nutrients and water from the soil as well as begin its journey to the surface for sunlight.
After completing this laboratory experiment the hypothesis that the salt water would affect the germination rate of the seeds was correct. The affect the salt water had on the seeds started at .5% at which the seeds began not to fully germinate. The percentages for germination began to fall passed the 100% germination rate that the 0% salt water had it also took only two days for full germination to occur. The .5% had a germination rate of 80% and took 3 days for the .5% to start to germinate and by the final day 8 seeds had full germinated. Then the 1.5 % had a germination rate of 60% and surprisingly germinated on the first day and by the final day had 6 of its ten seeds a fully germinated. After 1.5% it dropped off to 0% for 3.5% and 2.5%.
Each picture indicates how the germination progress of Zinnia’s seeds flows through my entire experiment. In step one, the Zinnia seeds were placed on paper towels that were numbered one through four. In step two, enough water was applied on the paper towel to cover all seeds and to make sure that the paper towel was moist. In step three, the moist paper towel was placed in the correct label plastic zip top sandwich bags. In step four, I observed the growth of the germinated seeds and placed them into the plastic planting pots that was numbered one through four. In the last step, step five, all the germinated seeds had sprouted and planting pot number four sprouted the most.
Epsom salt helps to strengthen the cell walls of the plants which subsequently helps the germination process. This is thanks to the large amounts of magnesium. The seedlings are stronger due to the
The Brassica rapa has many common names such as field mustard, bird rape, colza, and keblock and is closely related to turnips, rapeseed, and cabbage. Wisconsin University researchers bred one species of the Brassica rapa to have an extremely short life cycle (seed-to-seed thirty-five to forty days) for a model organism in education and experiments. In addition to their short life cycle, they are ideal for these situations because they can grow without natural sunlight, without much space, they do not use an excess of water, and the changes can be seen from week to week.
“For the first 10 days all the plants thrived abundantly. However, by the 14th day the leaves of the geraniums in experimental group began
Germination process for acacia species takes variety of factors and not necessarily that all species would take one coherent measures in order to germinate. Acacia falcata is one of the species for which the germination process could be easily being noted through treatment of boiling water. Although keeping in check that other suitable methodology can be taken to find results. Through several research conducted in the area of germination in acacia, it is now transparent that varieties of acacia seeds remain dormant in the soil and years may elapse until they all the viable seeds germinate. According to (Harding, 1940), the reason behind this dormancy is due to the coat of the seed of many acacia species to be thick, hard and highly polished. Hence reducing the moisture penetration to be a very slow process in natural conditions. According to the research in (Harding, 1940), it has been immensely shown that boiling water can improve the germination rate of acacia species. Particularly, Acacia pycnantha which was shown to highly germinate when dipped in boiled water for 5 seconds which had a percentage of 72.5%. However further study in (Harding, 1940) showed that Acacia pycnantha showed