Research Question |
How does the amount of fertilizer affect quantitative and qualitative traits in Brassica rapa? |
Predictions |
The plant with a higher concentration of fertilizer will have better growth than the one with less fertilizer. |
Experimental Design |
1. Assembled the Bottle Growing System as shown, with top inverted like a funnel. The bottle cap with water wick is seated in the bottle reservoir that will hold the water and nutrients. Identify which bottle will have high and low nutrient levels, and label top of plastic with a Sharpie.2. The bottle funnel was filled with root media. Five heaping tablespoons of Vermiculite was added.3. Osmocote pellets were added in the following concentrations: 6 pellets in the low nutrient treatment (1 pellet per plant), and 24 pellets in high nutrients (4 pellets per plant). Spread evenly across surface.4. Four heaping tablespoons of slightly moistened 50:50 mixture of Vermiculite "seedling starter" mix was added to the funnel.5. Six Fastplant (Brassica rapa) seeds were spaced evenly around the outer area of the growth chamber. The seeds were barely pushed under the soil with a pencil. 6. Masking tape was used to label whether the bottle contains high or low nutrient treatment.7. Soaked the entire root medium well with water until it begins to drip from the base of the wick. Filled the reservoir with sufficient water to reach the bottle cap on the growing funnel.8. The bottle growing systems were placed in the plant light box on a foil with light on 24 hours per day. |
Investigation Theme |
BRASSICA |
Grade Level |
High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
School Name |
Bishop Carroll High School |
Session |
Fall 2019 |