salinity lab report

The experiment focuses on salinity and its effect on Wisconsin Fast Plants. The theory of this experiment was that salinity has a detrimental effect on plant growth by inducing osmotic stress and killing plant cells. The experiment was carried out in a laboratory to determine the rate of growth of plants, first in aquatic areas and then in non-saline environments. Different outcomes on the appearance of the plants in both conditions were observed during the process. Plants that developed in saline environments grew slower than those that grew in non-saline environments. The reasons for the slow rate of growth in plants was found to be due to difficulty in the plants to derive water fast enough to the demand by the plant, hence proving that salinity affects plant growth even in soils with an adequate amount of water.

Salinity

Salinity is the saltiness or the quantity of salt in water soil or water body measured in parts per thousand. Higher levels of salinity increase the energy used by plants to draw water from the ground. Environmental factors such as temperature, soil salinity and PH, and light determine the uptake of essential nutrients for plant growth. These factors affect plant growth depending on the habitat and plant species. Higher levels of salinity lead to dehydration in plants even in the presence of sufficient soil water levels since the plant cannot maintain the effort needed to replenish the water supply. The main objective of the experiment was to investigate the effect of salinity on the growth of Wisconsin Fast Plants. These plants were chosen due to their high rate of growth as compared to other ordinary plants.

The material used in the experiment was the Wisconsin Fast Plant from the brassica family which is a crossbreed of fast growing plants with other types of plants. The plant was placed in saline and non-saline soil conditions. The method used involved observing the various changes in growth of the Wisconsin Fast Plants when put in a laboratory setting that was both in salinity areas and conditions without salinity.

Results and Discussion

After the experiment, results show that plants that grew in saline conditions grew slower while plants that grew in non-saline conditions grew faster. Plants get the majority of water and nutrients from the soil hence when salinity increases, they use more energy to draw water via the roots. This condition leads to dehydration. Since plants absorb nutrients via the root system, a lot of salts will be obtained in regions with high salinity disrupting the cellular function (Thomas, Murphy, & Murray, 2016). High amounts of sodium can cause leaf death thus decreasing the photosynthetic capability of the plant causing the slowed growth or even death.

The explanation in this experiment shows that salinity impacts the environment outside the roots and inside the plant. Higher salinity causes osmotic stress to the plant roots resulting to small stunted fruits, stunted growth, amplified succulence of leaves, darker leaves, dropping of leaves, yellowing, browning and mottling in plants among others (Willey, 2016).The increase in salinity causes decrease in plant growth and development, dehydration and reverses the flow of salts in a plant due to the change in the osmotic flow of nutrients (Thomas, Murphy, & Murray, 2016). The salt impact on plant roots leads to the production of stress hormone that prohibits root growth. High Sodium amounts kill the plant leaves and reduce the rate of photosynthesis.

References

Thomas, B., Murphy, D., & Murray, B. (2016). Encyclopedia of applied plant sciences (1st ed.). Oxford: Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier.

Willey, N. (2016). Environmental plant physiology. New York: Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group.