Student ID. xxxx1531
Bio 1B
Dr. Lisa Schultheis
Garden bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) growth in hydroponic solutions of varying pH
With world population increasing at an alarming rate, vegetation production in
different medium is part of much research. “In this report we describe the
development of a simple system for growing individual Arabidopsis plants
hydroponically under environmental conditions which are simple to maintain while
maximizing growth and development.” (Physiologia Plantarum, Volume 108, Issue 2,
pages 188–193, February 2000). Given that there is quite a bit of research done on
growing plants hydroponically, there is very little research done on varying pH
concentrations. Although it is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects, pH is
very important in hydroponic and organic as well as regular soil gardening. pH is
measured on a scale of 1-14 with 7 being neutral. Acids are lower than 7 and alkalis
(bases) are above 7. A Soil and Water Department at University of Florida conducted
a study to observe the effects of arsenic, pH and phosphorus and to remove the
arsenic from contaminated sites. (Environmental and Experimental Botany
Volume 50, Issue 3, December 2003, Pages 243–251). However, while submerged in
varying pH some plants shrunk in some pH wile it grew in the other pH solutions.
“Root growth was inhibited when plants were exposed to either pH 8 or pH 4
solutions in comparison with plants grown in solution of pH 6. Plant growth, leaf
size and content of chlorophyll were not affected in plants at pH 4, while all these
variables were reduced at pH 8 in comparison with plants grown at pH 6.” (Scientia
Horticulturae, Volume 37, Issue 4, January 1989, Pages 339–349 With enough
information gathered to design the experiment, our hypothesis, the plants in pH 7
will grow normally compared to pH 5 and pH 9.2. Since most plants prefer a slightly
acidic pH level, they do survive of pH up to 7.5. Even though the pH 5 is towards to
more acidic side, we do not expect the plants in this solution to grow better than the
neutral solution. If our hypothesis hold true at the end of the experiment, it will give
us a more solid foundation to add more variables to the procedure to see if this
method can be applied to grow more plants for commercial use.
Methods
After analyzing the plants available for the experiment bean plants were selected
due to its ability to grow quickly and it ability to grow straight with out getting
