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Plant Growth Deconstruction - Coggle Diagram
Plant Growth Deconstruction
What factors affect the rate of plant growth?
Fertilisers
Fertilisers provide extra nutrition for the seedlings and thus, can improve growth of seedlings.
Types of fertiliser
Amide
Urea is the most popular and one of the cheapest fertilisers used in Australian agriculture
Ammoniacal
Nitrates
Potassium based
Amount of fertiliser used
Limitations:
Homogenous distribution of fertiliser throughout the soil is impossible with available equipment as water will bring dissolved nutrients to the lower layers of soil.
Soil pH
Proteins essential for growth operate only optimally at a certain pH. Thus, differing soil pHs can affect the growth rate.
Limitations:
Homogenous distribution of acid may be unable to be obtained within the soil - this adds a random variable when measuring soil pH
Water levels may not be sufficient to dissolve sufficient acids or bases to provide a wide range of pHs to measure
Soil salinity
Salinity affects the osmotic potential around the seed/plant. Thus, affecting its ability to uptake water. Thus, it can affect the growth rate of the plant.
Limitations:
The soil may already have amounts of sodium, which can skew results
Soil salinity is difficult and expensive to alter in the real world, especially on large areas of farmland. Thus, this is not a practical factor that can be used to counteract warming climate and reducing rainfall
How will the growth rate of the plant be measured?
Change in height
In roots
Requires taking the plant out of the growth medium which can affect growth and add random error
In stem
Does not obtain information on growth of all parts of the plant. Thus, it does not provide a full picture of growth rate.
In roots and stem
Weight
Change in dry weight
This will be chosen to be a measure of growth, as it is a pure measure of the amount of biomass produced - unlike wet weight which includes water. It also does not rely on usage of a ruler - which has its accuracy affected by irregular plant shape.
Change in wet weight
What plants should be tested?
Plants significant for Australian agriculture
Wheat
Wheat forms the majority of the plant crops grown in Australia. It forms approximately 58% of the crops grown. Thus, this plant will be chosen to be tested as it is the most applicable and significant to Australian agriculture.
Canola
Barley
Type of growth medium?
Soil
Cropping soil from agricultural regions
This will be chosen since this type of soil most closely replicates the soil found in agricultural lands in Australia. Thus, using this type of soil will provide the most applicable results. It is also more accessible.
Tissue paper
Perlite
How much water should be provided?
Wheat requires approximately 3.1mm water per day
3.1 mm per day will be chosen since this is a realistic scenario as a majority of Australian farmers use irrigation to provide optimal water supply.
Average rainfall in agricultural areas of Australia are 300 to 600 mm annually which means a maximum of approximately 1.6 mm per day.
Size of storage container
Container should sized to be able to fit entire root system without interfering with it.
Diameter should be approximately 15 cm as root spread is also approximately 15 cm after a week
Depth should be approximately 15cm as wheat roots grow to a depth of 10 cm after a week
How long should the growth period be?
Seven days as this provides time for germination (two days) and five days of growth