Carmen F.

Granger
Biology Project
Woodyard / 4th per
PURPOSE

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of different fertilizers on radish-
growth.

I became interested in this idea when I noticed that my mom buys only one kind of fertilizer and
I wondered if it worked better than other fertilizers.

The information gained from this experiment will benefit home gardeners and crop growers raise
bigger and better plants.

HYPOTHESIS

My hypothesis was that plants would grow more massive with a fertilizer with higher percentage
number of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus in it. 

I based my hypothesis on an article that I read from Encarta Encyclopedia that stated, "The three
elements that most commonly must be supplied in fertilizers are nitrogen, phosphorus, and
potassium."

EXPERIMENT DESIGN

The constants in this study were:

 The type of plant used (radishes)

 The amount of water given to each plant every day (10 ml)
 The type of water given to the plants (tap water)
 The temperature plants were grown at (20-º C)
 The amount of potting soil given to each plant
 The amount of time to grow (7 weeks)
 The way the plants mass was measured (triple-beam balance)

The manipulated variable was the type of fertilizer used to grow the radishes.

The responding variable was the amount of plant-growth after a period of 7 weeks. 

To measure the responding variable I used a triple-beam balance to measure the mass of the
plants.
MATERIALS
 

QUANTITY                     ITEM DESCRIPTION

2                                         Organic Fertilizers
2                                         Chemical Fertilizers
1 bag                                  Potting Soil
4 packets                            Radish Seeds
2                                        Grow Light’s
1                                         Triple-beam balance
1                                         Graduated Cylinder 
5                                         Growing containers 
1 set                                    Measuring Cups
1 set                                    Measuring Spoons
10 ml                                  Water per day

 PROCEDURES

Set-Up
1. Label each growing tray with the name of the fertilizer that is going to be used in it and label
the last one "control group."
2. Put 118.3 milliliters of potting soil in each pot.
3. Add 1 Tbls of fertilizer to the group labeled its name. Mix the fertilizer together with the
potting soil inside the pots. 
4. Repeat step 3 and 4 with the 3 other fertilizers (make sure to put in the right tray for the right
fertilizer).
5. In the control group just put 118.3 milliliters of potting soil in the pots.
6. Make a small hole in the dirt of each pot, about 0.635 centimeters deep. Do this to all the pots.
7. Put 1 radish seed in each pot in every group.
8. Cover the holes up by pushing the dirt over the top of the holes (don’t push or pack the dirt
down).
Growing
9. Water every plant with 10 ml. of water every day.
10. Let the radishes grow over a period of 7 weeks, making sure to water them every day and
making sure to have all the plants have the same amount of light, and all of them have the same
room temperature (23º Celsius).
Measuring the Plants
11. Take one group of plants and pull them out of their pots and shake all the dirt off. 
12. All together take the plants in that group and measure their mass on the triple-beam-balance.
Record what you found on a data table. Make sure not to mix the groups together.
13. Repeat steps 12 and 13 with the other 4 groups recording all your findings in the data table.
14. After you have measured every plant and recorded their mass. Find the average mass of each
group. Record this down for every group.
RESULTS

The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of different fertilizers on
radishes.
 
 

The results of the experiment were that the control group grew the most biomass but the fertilizer
that grew the most biomass was Morcrop. The highest average, Morcrop, had an average of .24
grams in mass. The lowest average was Vigiro with an average of .1 grams. The control group
averaged .26 grams 

 CONCLUSION

My hypothesis was that plants would grow more massive with a fertilizer with higher percentage
number of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus in it.

The results indicate that this hypothesis should be rejected. This is because my information
showed that the average biomass using the fertilizer with the highest numbers in nutrients
(Miracle Grow) was slightly less than Morcrop. 

Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder whether or not other fertilizers would have
grown the radishes better or worse than the fertilizers I chose. Another thing I wonder is that
whether or not a natural fertilizer would do better than a synthetic fertilizer. 

If I were to conduct this project again I would have used a bigger sample group for each
fertilizer. I would have also used more types of fertilizers. Another thing would be to grow the
radishes over a longer period of time. 

Reasearch Report

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture is something that the whole world needs. In the Yakima Valley one of our
major industries is agriculture. Agriculture provides money to the workers and food to
many people around the world. Without agriculture many people would have a hard time
earning money, and we would have a hard time obtaining enough food.
 PLANTS

Plants have many necessities. They need certain nutrients like nitrogen, potassium,
phosphorus, hydrogen, and oxygen. Most of these can be supplied by the world around
them, but some need to be brought to the plant by means of elements in the fertilizer.

PLANT NUTRIENTS

The elements that humans provide to a plant most often are nitrogen, potassium, and
phosphorus. People provide it by way of fertilizer either in a chemical or organic form.

NITROGEN

Nitrogen can be supplied to a plant by any animal manure like steer or chicken manure,
concentrated nitrogen, and ammonia.  It can also be supplied in the form of urea, and
nitrates. The nitrogen that plants take in is changed into protein through a process called
nitrogen fixation. This element is so important to a plant because it helps the plant defend
itself from diseases, and drought. In most cases a plant can find its own nitrogen but in
some cases the plant needs nitrogen brought to it. 

Daniel Ruthford first recognized this element as an element in 1772. Atoine Laurent
Lavoisier then recognized it as a gas in 1776.

POTASSIUM

Potassium can be supplied to a plant through potassium nitrate, and potassium sulfate.
Potassium is necessary for a plant because it helps in the process of photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is the process in which a plant makes its food. Potassium also helps a plant
fight diseases and withstand drought. Usually a plant can find the potassium it needs but it
helps to provide a plant with it. Humphry David first discovered potassium as an element
in 1807.

PHOSHPORUS

Phosphorus was first discovered as an element in 1669 Hennig Brand. There are three
types of phosphorus red, white, and black. It is usually found in a mineral form mixed with
other minerals. It can also be found in burned bones.

Phosphorus helps a plant use water efficiently, and helps develop the roots of a plant. It
also helps ripen a plant.
 TYPES OF PLANTS

There are two groups of plants in the world: flowering and non-flowering. Every plant in
the world fits under one of these two categories.

FLOWERING PLANTS

In our world there are over 300,000 different species of plants. Out of all these plants there
are at least 250,000 species of flowering plants that are known. This fact shows the vast
diversity of the group of flowering plants.  These plants are also the most widespread
around our world. 

Flowering plants grow limbs off of their main structure. These limbs are sometimes used
like a solar panel to collect sun. The sun that they collect is used for the process called
photosynthesis. This process makes the food that it lives off of (6 H20 + 6 CO2 =
C6H12O6 + 6 O2).

NON-FLOWERING PLANTS

There are fewer non-flowering plants than flowering. Most of these plants include mosses,
and fungi. These types of plants like to grow in dark damp places. Usually they would find
these places in a forest under a rock or low on the trunk of a tree. 

These plants do not grow limbs or petals off of their body. The most common you would
see have is a cap like a mushroom, or are limp and stringy like the mosses in a forest. 

DIFFERENT FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS

There a lot of different flower arrangements. Some of them are regular flowers, spire
flowers, irregular flowers, umbel flowers, and composite flowers. Regular flowers are
flowers set-up in a circular arrangement. Spire flowers are in a sequence of some kind.
Irregular flowers are symmetrical but set their selves up in a different way. Umbel flowers
are small flowers that grow in groups, and composite flowers have petals around the
outside called ray florets and seeds in the middle called disk florets.

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

The process of photosynthesis is a process in which a plant makes their food. This food is a
type of sugar called glucose in which is formed through this process. The plant brings in
light through its chloroplast, which starts the process of combining carbon dioxide with
water to make the sugar and oxygen. All plants live off of this energy, which it makes.
 RADISHES

 Radishes are a vegetable that grows underground. They can be colored red, white or
yellow. The time of the year in which you grow a radish can determine the way it grows. If
you grow it in the spring a radish will grow to be a small round radish. While if you grow
it in the summer it will grow skinny and long. Radishes usually grow best if they are kept
in an environment below 26º Celsius or 80º Fahrenheit. The scientific name of a radish is
Raphonus. The common garden radish is Raphonus Sativus. 

FERTILIZER

Fertilizer is a mixture of things that can aid a plant in its growth. Fertilizer can be made in
many different forms. The two biggest categories that fertilizer breaks down from to are
organic and inorganic. Organic fertilizers are fertilizers that were made by the
environment. Inorganic fertilizers are fertilizers that are made chemicals, and substances,
which were not made but the environment. The most common nutrients supplied in a
fertilizer are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.

On a bag of fertilizer there are three numbers (n-n-n). The first number indicates the
percent of nitrogen in the bag of fertilizer. The second number indicates the percent of
phosphorus in the bag of fertilizer, and the last number indicates the percent of potassium
in the bag.

ORGANIC FERTILIZER

Organic fertilizers are fertilizers in which with will not hurt the environment. These will
not hurt the environment because they are made natural substances in the environment.
Some substances are like any kind of manure, and dead plants or animals. Although these
fertilizers may be good for the environment they sometimes don’t work as effectively as an
inorganic fertilizer.

INORGANIC FERTILIZER

Inorganic fertilizers are fertilizers in which either over a short or long period of time the
chemicals in the fertilizer will start breaking down the soil and hurting the environment.
Although they may do this these types of fertilizers are very effective. They are usually
made of a synthetic substance, or a highly concentrated combination of the most needed
nutrients. 

CONCLUSION

Without agriculture our world wouldn’t be where it is now. Money would be hard to earn,
and supplying the food needed for the world would be even harder. Agriculture is a very
important part of our society. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baker, Jerry. Backyard Problem Solver. MS: American Master Products Inc 2002. P. 25,
196, 309

"Fertilizer." Encarta Encyclopedia 2001 CD-ROM

"Fertilizer: Fuel for Growing Plants." Fertilizer. October 25, 2002

<http://www.tfi.org/aboutfertilizer/fuelforgrowingplants.asp 

Knapp, Brian. Elements: Nitrogen and Phosphorus. Danbury, CT: Groiler Educational,
Sherman Turnpike 1997. P. 4, 20, 44

Knapp, Brian. Elements: Sodium and Potassium. Danbury, CT: Groiler Educational,
Sherman Turnpike 1997. P 40, 41

Mitchell, Sophia. Plants. New, York: New, York, 1989. P. 6-9, 14-18, 20-21

Munson, Edwin S. "Nitrogen." The World Book Encyclopedia. 2002. V. 14

"Nitrogen." Encarta Encyclopedia 1998 CD-ROM

"Phosphorus." Encarta Encyclopedia 1998 CD-ROM

 "Potassium." Encarta Encyclopedia 1998 CD-ROM 

"Radishes." Encarta Encyclopedia 2001 CD-ROM