EFFECT OF SALT CONCENTRATION ON THE GERMINATION OF RADISH SEEDS

Nour Adam Partners : Asifa Minhas, Komal Noor, Kim Langille, Rachel Veliz, Tabinda Begum and Aishah Rashid Ms. Asa SBI3U1-01 Tuesday January 22nd, 2013

Purpose: To determine the effect of salt concentration on the germination of radish seeds. Background Information: Radishes or Raphanus sativus as known in Latin is an annual garden vegetable. Radishes are dicot angiosperms as it has two cotyledons. It has a long and round root which is the main part of the plant. Radishes have many medical uses such as their juice which is used against stomach disorders and they are a source of vitamin C which makes them a great immune booster. We chose to use radish seeds for this experiment as radishes grow very fast. Cherry radishes take about 22 days to mature and can be harvested then. Radish seeds germinate in about 3-5 days if not sooner which means we can see change a lot quicker. The process starts as the seed absorbs the water. The seed coat than bursts and a radical, the first embryonic root, is formed. The hypocotyl forms and grows up. The hypocotyl emerges out and grows straight up than the cotyledons spread apart exposing the epicotyle which than forms its first true leave. Finally, the cotyledons shrivel and fall away from the seeds. Our independent variable is the salt concentration. We are testing the effect of salt concentration on plant growth. We hypothesize that this test factor will affect the growth of the radish seeds as seeds need water to grow. Since there is a high concentration of salt in the salt water, the radish seed wont have enough water as the salt keeps the water from the seed killing it once it sprouts and preventing the seeds to germinate.

Hypothesis: If the salt concentration is too high around the seed, then it will prevent the radish seeds to germinate because it will keep the water from the seed killing it once it germinates.

Materials: 4 pieces of paper towels measuring 20 by 20cm 6 radish seeds Distilled water Salt water 4 plastic cups Tape Ruler Goggles Spray Bottle

Method (Control): 1. Cut two pieces of paper towels that measure 20 cm by 20 cm. Fold each piece over and orient the folded edge at the top. You should now have a double layer, which is 20 cm by 10 cm. 2. With one piece of folded paper towel flat on the bench, wet the double layer with distilled water. 3. Place 3 seeds in a row, 1.5 cm below the top folded edge of the wet paper. Leave sufficient space between the seeds. Wet the second paper towel and lay it evenly over the first towel and seeds. The edges of the two paper towels should line up and towels should stick together. 4. Starting from the left edge, roll the towel up into a scroll with an internal diameter of about 4 cm. 5. Stand the scroll on one end with the top folded edge upright and allow excess fluid to drain for 1-2 minutes. 6. Place the scroll upright in a plastic cup and tape another inverted cup securely over it as a lid. Write the name of the treatment used (control). Method (Test): 1. Cut two pieces of paper towels that measure 20 cm by 20 cm. Fold each piece over and orient the folded edge at the top. You should now have a double layer, which is 20 cm by 10 cm. 2. With one piece of folded paper towel flat on the bench, wet the double layer with the treatment solution which in this case is salt water while wearing gloves 3. Place the seeds in a row, 1.5 cm below the top folded edge of the wet paper. Leave sufficient space between the seeds. Wet the second paper towel and lay it evenly over the first towel and seeds. The edges of the two paper towels should line up and towels should stick together. 4. Starting from the left edge, roll the towel up into a scroll with an internal diameter of about 4 cm 5. Stand the scroll on one end with the top folded edge upright and allow excess fluid to drain for 1-2 minutes. 6. Place the scroll upright in the plastic cup provided and tape another inverted cup securely over it as a lid. Include the name of the treatment (Test). 7. Place your scrolls in the appropriate growing area. The placement should be selected to minimize uncontrolled variables.

Observations:

The above table shows the results of the qualitative and quantitative measurements of this experiment. Salt negatively affects Raphanus sativus or commonly known as radish seeds to germinate. The seeds were tested with 0.1M of salt for 9 days which were compared to seeds growing in normal condition (water). This data shows that the test seeds didnt grow which I hypothesized. It shows that the test seeds had a slope of 0 as they didnt get affected and the control seeds had a slope of 0.675 as the control seeds grew. Since salt negatively affects radish seeds or R.sativus from germinating, there was no qualitative data for the test seeds as the seeds didnt germinate which means that there were no leaves. For the control seeds, there were no leaves in day 0 and day 2. The cotyledon was a light yellow on day 4 and was green by day 7. On day 9, the leaves were yellowish green.

Effect of Salt on Radish Seeds Germination

Discussion: R. sativus or radishes are dicot angiosperms. The process of germination starts off with the seed absorbing the water. The seed coat bursts than the radicle or the first real embryonic root is formed. The hypocotyl grows straight up until it gets out of the soil and grows straight up. The cotyledons spread revealing the epicotyls which then forms its first true leave. Lastly, the cotyledons shrink and fall away from seedling. (Jirage) One of our errors would be losing one of the three control seeds. This only came to our attention on day 2. We couldnt replant as it would confuse the data and the data wouldnt be consistent. To improve on this, we could be more careful putting the seeds in and wrapping it better so the seeds wont fall out. Another error was the possible irregular moisture levels in the plant. If I could redo this experiment again, I would mainly change the experiment to make it controlled. I think I would use an incubator to be able to monitor the moisture level. I wouldve also used an open air source rather than the cups. The cups sometimes werent sealed properly which mayve caused an irregularity in the seed germination as the seeds were exposed to different moisture levels depending on their location.

Conclusion: In conclusion, my experiment supports my hypothesis which stated that high salt concentration will prevent the radish seeds to germinate. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of salt concentration on the germination of radish seeds. It was found that salt represses radish seeds or Raphanus sativus to germinate which occurs as the salt keeps the water from the seed killing it once it germinates.