Research Question |
How does the amount of fertilizer affect the quantitative and qualitative traits in Brassica rapa? |
Experimental Design |
Two emptied plastic water bottles were cut in half. The top of a water bottle is inverted like a funnel. There was a whole punctured in the bottle cap and a cotton wick was put in the whole created in the bottle cap. The bottle cap with the wick was then seated in the bottle reservoir that will hold water and nutrients. The bottle was half filled with a 50:50 mixture of potting soil and vermiculite. Osmocote pellets are added to each bottle, 6 pellets in the low nutrient treatment and 24 pellets in high nutrient treatment. The bottles were then filled to the top with the 50:50 potting soil/Vermiculite mixture. The soil was then watered until completely moist. Six fastplant seeds were evenly spread out over the soil and then gently covered with the soil mixture. Masking tape was used to label each bottle as high or low. The reservoir is filled with water. The bottle was then placed into the plant light box. Three control treatments were set up for the class. The control treatment consisted of using the “recommended” level of fertilizer. The recommended level of fertilizer was 2 osmocote fertilizer pellets per seed. The three controls were set up exactly the same as the high and low treatments except for using 12 osmocote pellets. |
Investigation Theme |
BRASSICA |
Grade Level |
High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
School Name |
Derby High School |
Session |
Fall 2018 |