Hydroponic LAB

Abstract

Our group investigated the nutrients required for a plant to grow successfully. To do this, we used juvenile tomato plants and grew them for four weeks. The plants were divided into three groups, the positive control group, the experimental group and the negative control group. The experimental group contained all the nutrients except for calcium and the negative control group had no nutrients at all. The positive group however contained all of the nutrients need for plant growth. During the four weeks, our group watered (with assigned nutrition solutions) and observed the progress of the plants to ensure the accuracy of the plant growth.

Plant Life

Plants are extremely important organisms in the world for they provide food and oxygen for human beings and other organisms. Plants have the ability to take in carbon dioxide and with the help of internal proceses convert it into oxygen that is breathed in. Plants are sessile or non-moving organisms that can grow in many places such as rainforests, parks, beaches, marshes, lakes, mountains and even deserts to name a few. Even though it is an interesting fact that plants can grow in a lot of different places, one might ask 'where do plants get the nutrition to survive in these different locations?' Conveniently, plants get their nutrients from the soil, the sun and water. Soil contains a variety of different nutrients and is a great place for the roots of plants to latch onto to keep it grounded. The sun and water are critical for plants to photosynthesize which is process that changes inorganic material into organic material.

Plants have very basic but important structures that help it thrive such as roots, leaves, flower(s) and a stem. Roots act as a straw that sucks up the water from the soil which is then funneled through the stem that carries the water up to the leaves and the flower(s) of the plant. The vascular tissue called the xylem is what helps the water travel up the stem and to the leaves. Some plants do not have this ability which is called non-vascular which makes them grow differently resulting in no true basic structures. The leaves of a plant like the roots also collect water providing the plant with two ways to absorb and collect water. The flower(s) of plant in some cases provides organisms with food and is also where the pollen (used to fertilize eggs of plants) is located. Plants can reproduce either asexually (cells split giving two identical cells) or sexually where pollen from one plant fertilizes the eggs in ovary of another plant.

In relation to this lab, it is important to note that some vascular and non-vascular plants do not require soil to provide them with minerals which is what is called Hydroponics. We use this concept in our lab to test this process and gather a better understanding of how it works,

Materials:

8 Concentrated nutrients/minerals
6 Tomato plants
3 foam plant holders
Rulers
Gram Scale
500ml beakers (3)

Methods:

Collect six (6) healthy juvenile tomato plants. From there remove them from the soil and deionize their roots with dH20.
Label three containers as Control, Experimental and Negative.
Assign two of the six plants to each of the three beakers, these will now be of the control, experimental, and negative groups.
Name plants (optional)
Initial weighing, length taking, analyzing and leaf count
Create a complete solution by using all of the listed minerals/nutrients.
Create an incomplete solution by using all but one listed mineral/nutrient.
Create a negative solution by using none of the minerals/nutrients (dH20).
Assign each solution to only one set of tomato plants for the next four weeks.
Place the beakers underneath a bright lamp and place the solutions in a dark environment.
Observe the plants growth over the next four weeks.

Results and Analysis

Analyzing the results the plants that contained all of the nutrients grew extremely healthy. The size, weight, and leaves of Miley Cyprus and Tom-Ato (plants with complete nutrients) increased over the four weeks according to the results. The plants that lacked calcium (Jupiter and Moji) grew at a low rate. The size, weight and leaves increased fairly slowly which showed us that calcium is an essential element that aids in plant growth. The plants that were submerged in dh2o (Venus and Mars) grew even slower. This showed us that obviously without any nutrients plants will not grow properly.

Observation: 1

Week Two: *There was an error during the Week two observations. Unfortunately, the data was lost*

Observation: 3

Observation: 4

Discussion

This lab was fairly successful and we obtained enough information to compare and contrast our results. However, unfortunately, the second observation was lost making it a bit difficult to accurately analyze the plant growth and nutrition for the results was not consecutive. The overall purpose of this lab was to see how nutrition affects the growth and health of a plant. It was amazing to see how nutrition is so important and even when one element such as calcium is removed from the picture it can make all of the difference in plant growth. Our group encourages other biology students or the public to learn about plant growth and nutrition and perform labs such as this one. By performing this lab, biology students or the public can begin to grow plants successfully.

Conclusion

In conclusion, our hypothesis was correct which was the plant with all of the nutrition or the positive control would grow the healthiest compared to the experimental and negative group. The positive control group showed an increase in weight, size, and height throughout the four weeks. The positive control group also maintained its lush green color. It was also concluded that with the removal of calcium the experimental group did not grow as successfully as the positive control group. The experimental group showed a slow increase in weight, size and height throughout the four weeks. The leaves became withered and pigmented with white blotches; the stem started to turn purple which proved that the plant was dying. Last, it was concluded that the negative group started to die because there was no nutrients present.