Environmental Effects On Plant Growth; Pollution And Safety Concerns

Aims/hypothesis

Title: Environmental Effects on Plant Growth; Pollution and Safety Concerns

• Sunflower plant is dichotic angiosperms thus have flower and sees. They produce seed which are used for its production. Sunflower is the native plants in South America, and is currently being grown in the soil. Their germination are influenced by normal growth factors like sunlight, water and soil.
• The role played by the pollution currently is huge and it posses significant danger to livelihoods of many. The basic source of water and food are being plagued by pollution, (Water, 2012). The pollution plays significant role on the growth and the development of humans and plants.
• The sources of pollution are varied in nature. We have industrial pollution whereby waste generated from the industry is released to the environment. Farm chemicals have a significant negative impact on the growth and germination of the seeds in the soil. The use of lubricants, chemicals and fuels has had significant impact on growth development of plants. There are naturally occurring substances that can cause harm to the environment and these effects are reflected on the plant structure.

Aim

To, investigate the effect of pollutant on the germination and growth of sunflower seeds.

Hypothesis

Ho

Sunflower seeds will germinate and nourish when treated with bleach, vinegar solution and fairy liquid.

Plant structure

• Leaf structure properties
• Pollutant like the ozone layer can damage the physique of the laves thus changing the chlorosis which alters the plant by causing a deficiency of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is highly needed by plants for manufactures of food by absorbing light from the atmosphere and utilizing it in the manufacture of food. Lack of chlorophyll leads to starvation plants, thus it cannot manufacture food, (Brdbeer, 2013).
• Delayed flowering of plants
• Pollution causes impacts on the plant structure by delaying the process of flowering of the plants exposed to. Stressed plants don’t flower but they utilize the available resource to obtains its food and survive, deprivation of food to plants has been studied to increase the aging of plants, (Byen & Bck, 2014).
• Root damage
• The pollution can be acid rain which it has contents of sulphur dioxide or acidic mine drainage or soils with acidic nature. Acidic Ph of the soils causes aluminium ions to emerge which they usually occur at harmless state. The mobilized state of the ions prevents calcium uptake, which leads to decreased growth in plants. The decline in the soil fertility and reduction in bacteria in the soil hampers the growth of plants. It prevents the breakdown of the organic matter. Hence leading to decline of nutrients supply in the plant, (McCormick, 2013).
• Damage of the stomata
• The tiny opening of pores in plants is referred to as stomata. They act on gas exchange sites of plants. It functions as gaseous exchange site for gases in the atmosphere. The uptake of CO2 in plants results in release of oxygen to the atmosphere. The pollution effects targets the plant structure by minimizing the size of the pores of plants, thus leading to compromised photosynthesis to plants hence slower growth.
• Soil texture
• The soil is a valuable component essential for growth and germination of seeds. And every plant depends on its survival. Currently there are numerous soil pollutants which restrict growth of plants. There are a biotic factors which include drought, extreme temperature, drought and salinity, chemical components and toxins present affect growth ad germination of plants. With the upsurge of urbanization and industrialization process, pollution of environment through remittance of toxic substance like heavy metals has been a great danger to both the human aspect and plant aspect worldwide.
• Heavy metals have been the major cause and increase in soil pollution. In the mining areas for example several deposits of metals have been found to have contaminated the soils and affect growth of plants. This increased levels of unwanted substance has led to increase on the stress plants endure in affecting their yields and viability. The consequences of the pollution on the soil has been the decrease in the germination rate of the seeds, reduced root elongation on plants and damage through oxidative means, (Wang, Vinocur & Altman,  2013).
• Bleach solution
• Bleaching agents have an effect on plant growth and germination in two major ways. Bleaching agent especially from chlorine substance has a ph of 11, thus when it comes into contact with soil, it increases the ph of the soil. High levels of bleach ions raise the intake of iron, calcium and magnesium present into the soil, which are the core nutrients needed for growth.
• With this effect, a bleaching agent is likely to kill the plant. Chlorine agent when used in small quantities is not likely to cause harm, however its effects leads to destruction of the plant central support system, (Mercer, Shaw & Wyse, 2006).
• Effects on soil
• The survival of a plant in the soil depends on the fungus and bacteria for retention and absorption of food. They assist in transfer of nitrogen and other nutrients to the plant roots. On the other hand bleach functions to destroy and sterilization purposes hence destroying all the bacteria and fungus present in the soil. Thus bleach that penetrates into the soil will kill the organisms beneath it and thus enabling the plant to die soon.
• Effect on plants

hen plants come into contact with bleach the will be severely damaged, plants that have come into contact with bleach will wither soon afterwards, due to the denaturing of the cells; oxygen present combines with the cells, causing alteration and later decompose.

• Vinegar
• Vinegar has influence on the plant growth . The acetic acid in the vinegar contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Vinegar however is highly acidic and studies have shown it has negative impact on plant growth, (Chen et al., 2014).
• Acetic Acid
• Acetic acid found on vinegar is the most harmful component on plant. Vinegar dries the leaves of the plant and has been widely been used to eradicate weeds. Repeated application on weeds prevents further growth.
• Soil
• The soil Ph can be lowered by use of vinegar. Soils which have low ph don’t allow plants to thrive. the concentration of acetic acid determines its influence on the soil. Vinegar with 20% has long lasting effects on the soil. Household vinegar has 5% acetic acid, thus having less effect.
• natural weed killer
• A solution of vinegar, salt and liquid soap is used as weed killer. Vinegar being non selective killer, it destroys everything around it.
• fairy liquid
• This is the washing liquid which is normally found in the household. They usually contain chemicals which if poured on plants affects the plant growth.  The chemicals components in fairy liquid enable it to wither plants and eventually make the plants die.

The assignment is based on the pollution effects on growth. The study is experimenting how plants can effectively grow on different mediums.

Materials

Seeds

Sunflower soil

8 pots

Vinegar

Fairy liquid

Bleach

Water

Ruler

Plastic bottle

Procedure

1. To start I have planted the 4 plants each weighing 2kg. than
2. Water plant I added 50ml of water
3. White vinegar and water I added 40 ml of water to 10 ml of white vinegar
4. Bleach and water I added 40 ml of water to 10 ml of bleach
5. Fairy liquid and water I added 40 ml of water to 10 ml of Fairy liquid.
6. Expected result: the only water plant is the controlled one the rest are expected not t grow or die after first week.
7. The growth pattern is monitored and measured in a table for analysis

The light exposure to the seeds were controlled, the pots were placed in the classroom with no light

Dependent variables include; seeds germination rate and soil

Independent variable include; liquid, solvent and light

Initial experiment

02/2017	WEEK 1	WEEK 2
WATER (50ml)	1 cm	2.7cm
BLEACH AND WATER  (50ML)	Nil	Nil
FAIRY LIQUIDAND WATER (50ML)	Nil	Nil
WHITE VINEGAR AND WATER (50ML)	Nil	Nil

Table measurements obtained from the first week experiment shows no growth for the three solutions except for the control using water.  There was no germination as the nutrients in the soil were suppressed thus unable to activate germination on the seeds. 

Reason for no germination

There was no germination in the first experiment due to the following reason that the level of pollutants in the pots were too high to allow for conducive environment to grow. In the vinegar pot, probably it had high acetic acid which raised the ph of the soil, thus limiting germination. With the fairy liquid solution the components in the solution were too high in chemical content thus no growth. The bleach content, there high contents of chlorine, which altered the functioning of nitrogen for the purpose of transfer of nutrients from the soil to the plant, hence no growth.

Repeat experiment 

The growth measurement were undertaken and the following measurement of growth was recorded in the table after the experiment period

03/2017	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK4
WATER (50ML)	1.6cm	5cm	12 cm	14 cm
WHITE VINEGAR AND WATER 50ml	1.8cm	2.4 cm	3.2cm	3.2 cm
FAIRY LIQUID AND WATER 50ml	0.9cm	0.9cm	0.9cm	0.9cm
BLEACH AND WATER 50ml	0 cm	0 cm	0cm	0.cm

 
From the table above it shows the growth measurements taken for the seeds under different solutions. The water in the control pot had no effect, growth occur, however there as minimal measurement which were observed from the other solvent.

Graph presentation 

For second pEKEY

3.2 cm+3.2cm+2.4 cm 1.8cM

= 2.65 cm per week

Pot three

= 0.9 cm

And pot = 0 cm

From the bar chart above the growth pattern was minimal for the vinegar and fairy liquid. Vinegar based solution don’t allow plants to thrive , however there will be dismal growth, but after some time the acetic acid in the solution has denatured the microbes in the soil present in the pot making the plant growth to stagnate and after some time it will wilt.

In the fairy liquid based solution the growth stagnated all through and this attributed to the fact the fairy solution has chemical components which don’t allow for normal growth to occur, they interfere with the plant growth and don’t kill the plant.

For the bleach solution as observed in the bar chart there was no growth at all due to the bleaching effectively. The bleach had high ph thus tampered with magnesium and hydrogen present in the soil, thus depriving the plant to thrive.

The experiment was conducted with valid data and following of the laid down procedure accurately. The experiment was preformed a carefully designed framework. The seeds were placed in the right pots and treatments given according to the procedure followed. And the results measuring were done accurately minimising any source of misreading.

Sources of errors that could have risen include the fluctuation of temperature in the classroom where the pots were placed. However if this factor played a role then it is no concern because all the pots were then treated the same. Any sunlight received could not be determined but all the pots was assumed that they received same amount of sunlight.

• The aim of the experiment was to investigate the pollution effects of substance on plant growth development. In this case we used vinegar, fairy liquid and bleach.

• Vinegar can have negative impacts on growth of plants. It has been used as natural weed killer; vinegar has been used in farm as a top up for Ph of the soils. Household’s vinegar contains 5 % acetic acid level. It burns on the weeds but don’t have any effect on roots and it has effects on the leaves of the plants it comes into contact, (Pan et al., 2010).
• Vinegar in the soil lowers the Ph thus stopping the plants from growing. Low Ph levels are not good enough for growth. Herbicidal vinegar with 20 % acetic acid can have longer lasting effect on plants, (Zhou, Jiang & Li, 2009).
• The vinegar added had slight effect on the start, but as growth progressed, the effects of it ware felt by the plant on the growth and germination of the seed. When compared to the control pot the one which it had pure water, growth was gradually improving but addition of vinegar the growth stunted, due to inhibition plant to produce nutrients for the plant.
• From the results obtained it indicates that the vinegar used had lower acidic level, as they germinate, however as time went the effects of the vinegar were felt and the crops started to stunt without further growth.
• The fairy liquid is a liquid compound which don’t support growth and germination from the results obtained the growth was constant for the whole period of the assignment, hence showing the present water was used only for sustaining the plant and none was being utilised for growing development.
• The growth and germination on the bleach solution is not supported at all.

Conclusions

My hypothesis was that Sunflower seeds will germinate and nourish when treated with bleach, vinegar solution and fairy liquid. With view of the hypothesis on the idea sunflower seed are unable to germinate in a polluted substance media. The results indicate that this hypothesis should be considered incorrect and should be rejected, however the germination stunted in the course of the second week.

• With these results, pollutant substance has an effect on sunflower growth and germination of plant seeds in the same way.  There is significant slower growth rate thus clearly showing how these substances are unnatural.

The project was critical in that it followed long duration of close monitoring which if data is not stored well they could be destroyed. I a repeat of this experiment was to be done other then, i will consider placing the pots in a different room where there no disturbance and leave to grow, other factors which were not kept constant in the experiment might have led to decline in growth.

With the observation recorded, my recommendation for extension of this work is to investigate the biological explanation s to what exactly pollution substance change in the plant germination and how the effects can be reversed.

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