| Research Question | Our question is “Will a plant with earthworms in its soil grow better, worse or the same as a plant without earthworms in its soil?”. We know that agronomy can feed the world because it gives the soil fresh nutrients and overall helps the soil to grow plants in. This experiment will be conducted to determine how the presence of worms in soil can affect plant growth. The experiment will be done by comparing the development and growth of radish plants in two soil samples one that contained worms and the other that doesn’t contain any worms.Worms help to increase the amount of air and water that gets into the soil. They break down organic matter and when they eat, they leave behind a very valuable type of fertilizer. |
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| Predictions | One possible outcome can be that earthworms actually increase plant growth speed for the radishes. The second outcome can be that the earthworms eat the radish seeds. The third outcome can be that there was no change with or without earthworms. Radish seeds are tiny and the earthworm can mistake the seed with bigger soil pieces. Earthworms release and castings that provide needed nutrients for plant growth. |
| Experimental Design | Our Independent variable is whether or not the earthworms were present in the soil and our Dependent variable is the height of the plants after 4 weeks. We will use three pots of equal size with equal amounts of soil in each. We are going to label each pot, two are labeled “radish-worms” and one “rasdish”. We are going to add three worms into the pots labeled “radish-worms”. Then we are going to make a 1in deep hole into each of the pots and place three seeds in each. The plants are going to be water daily (40ml). The pots will be placed in a warm/sunny location. Data will be collected, the growth rate between the “radish-worms” and “radish” pots. We will determine the length by using a ruler to measure the height of the 3 plants. This will be done two times a week, Monday and Thursday. |