Tobacco growth - Lab Report Example

The study recommends growth of Burley tobacco in artificial soil. Research questions The study sought to investigate the following research questions. Does the soil type affect germination of plants? Does the soil type affect the growth of plants? Hypotheses In order to answer the research questions, the research explored the following sets of hypotheses, Ha1: µA= µP= µO; there is no significant different on the effect of type of soil on germination of tobacco. (Where µA, µP, and µO are the mean percentage of germinated seeds for artificial, plain, and organic soils respectively) Ho1: Any of the µA, µP, or µO is different; there is a significant difference in the soil’s effects on the ability of tobacco to germinate.

Ha2: µA= µP= µO; There is no significant difference on the effects of type of soil on the tobacco’s grow. (Where µA, µP, and µO are the mean length of the plants for artificial, plain, and organic soils respectively) Ho2: Any of the µA, µP, or µO is different; there is significant differences in the soil’s effects on the ability of tobacco grow. Materials and methods Materials The following materials were used in the experiments; Burley tobacco seeds, 15 small growers’ pots, labeling stickers, three different types of soil (artificial, plain and organic), light spray, tweezers, spatula, water, and zip-ock-bags.

Design The research applied a complete randomized design in its experimental set up. The design involves separate blocks for experiments and each block has the same number of treatment. The design was selected for its advantages that would facilitate exploration of the research questions and the research hypotheses. One of its advantages is its level of precision that also eliminates error because of existence of control. It also offers more information as compared to other designs because treatments across all blocks can be paired during analysis.

The design is also simple to implement and is flexible. It is however suitable for blocks with relatively small sizes (Montgometry and Runger, 2010). Research procedure The research process involved acquisition of 15 small grower’s pots that were labeled with the group’s identification number. The pots were organized for three treatments and each treatment had five replicates that were achieved in five different pots and were each labeled. Each of the pots was filled to 1 inch below the top with the appropriate soil.

Using a light spray from the hose, the soil was saturated, evenly, so that it settled. One more inch of soil was then added to the saturated soil from the top and watered. The process was repeated until the potting mix no longer settled. Tweezers was then used to disperse 10 tobacco seeds into a small beaker before the 10 seeds were evenly and randomly distributed across the surface of each pot. Care was taken to get exactly 10 seeds into each pot. Each pot was then slowly dipped into a pan of water until saturation was achieved.

“Watering from the bottom” technique was used, throughout the study, to achieve this. The pots were then sealed in their own labeled Zip-Lock bag and placed, randomly, under grow lights as directed. Once a week, we went down as a group to count how many plants had germinated and watered our plants. We placed a toothpick next to each sprout to mark its location for analytics purposes in case germinated seeds dried up. At the end of the study, we determined the percentage germination and