Experiment For Finding The Germination Rate Of Different Seeds
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to find the germination rate of eleven seeds at
room temperature with 2 tsp of water supply in each Petri-dish.
Apparatus:
3 Sterilized Petri-dishes
3 filter papers
25 Mung Beans, 25 Green Lentils, 25 Buck Wheat, 25 Red Clover,
25 Alfa Alfa, 25 Soft Wheat, 25 Oil Seed Radish, 25 Black Mustard,
25 China Rose Radish, 25 Adzuki, 25 Sun Flower Seeds.
6 tsp tap water (obtained from Hamilton, Ontario)
1 Box
Procedure:
I divided each sterilized Petri-dish into four quadrants with a permanent marker
on the outside of the base of the dish and tagged the name of the seeds in each quadrant.
Then I placed one filter paper per dish and placed 25 seeds in corresponding quadrant
(Dish 1: 25 Mung Beans, 25 Green Lentils, 25 Buck Wheat, 25 Red Clover; Dish 2: 25
Alfa Alfa, 25 Soft Wheat, 25 Oil Seed Radish, 25 Black Mustard; Dish 3: 25 China Rose
Radish, 25 Adzuki, 25 Sun Flower Seeds). Then I distributed 2tsp of water in each dish,
put the lid on and wrote the date and time on the lid. I then placed these Petri-dishes in a
card board box and placed the box in a drawer. Then everyday (at the same time I began
the experiment) I took the count of the seed that were germinated. I also observed for the
moles and presence of water.
Observation:
The germination rates for each seed for 5 day period are given in Table 1 in terms
of number of seeds germinated and the percentage of seeds germinated.
Seed Name
Mung Bean
Green Lentil
Buck Weat
Red clover
Alfa Alfa
Soft Wheat
Oil Seed Radish
Black Mustard
China Rose Radish
Adzuki
Day1
(no)
9
12
3
7
6
15
13
9
7
0
Day1
(%)
36
48
12
28
24
60
52
36
28
0
Day 2
(no)
19
23
6
11
10
22
18
17
18
6
Day 2
(%)
76
92
24
44
40
88
72
68
72
24
Day 3
(no)
23
25
17
11
12
25
22
22
23
17
Day 3
(%)
92
100
68
44
48
100
88
88
92
68
Day 4
(no)
25
25
19
12
14
25
23
22
25
23
Day 4
(%)
100
100
76
48
56
100
92
88
100
92
Day 5
(no)
25
25
22
16
17
25
24
22
25
23
Day 5
(%)
100
100
88
64
68
100
96
88
100
92
Sunflower
3
12
8
32
19
76
21
84
21
84
Table 1: The germination rate of 11 seeds for over 5 day period in counts and
percentage.
I also accounted for the formation of moles in these seeds. Table 2 illustrate these
data.
Seed Name
Mung Bean
Green Lentil
Buck Weat
Red clover
Alfa Alfa
Soft Wheat
Oil Seed Radish
Black Mustard
China Rose Radish
Adzuki
Sunflower
Day1
(no)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Day1
(%)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
Day2
(no)
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
Day2
(%)
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
0
0
0
4
Day3
(no)
1
0
3
0
0
5
6
13
1
0
3
Day 3
(%)
4
0
12
0
0
20
24
52
4
0
12
Day 4
(no)
3
0
5
1
0
6
17
22
2
0
16
Day4
(%)
12
0
20
4
0
24
68
88
8
0
64
Day5
(no)
4
0
8
2
0
9
20
25
5
0
21
Table 2: The rate at which seed show the evidence of mold as a function of days.
I also noticed that Dish 1 and Dish 3 ran out of water very fast. By day four the
seeds (the small parts such as roots and leaves that came out of seed) that were in Dish 1
and 3 started dehydration. On day 5, the dehydration of these seeds were very visible and
the smaller seeds started dying.
Discussion:
In this experiment we kept the temperature constant at room temperature by
placing the dishes in a box and keeping them at the same spot in the room.
I plotted a graph of germination rate as a function of days to have a clear
understanding about the germination rate [figure 1]
Day 5
(%)
16
0
32
8
0
36
80
100
20
0
84
A Graph Of Germination Rate Vs Days
120
100
Mung Bean
Germination Rate (%)
Green Lentil
80
Buck Weat
Red clover
60
Alfa Alfa
Soft Wheat
Oil Seed Radish
40
Black Mustard
China Rose Radish
20
Adzuki
Sunflower
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
-20
Days
Figure 1: A graph of germination rate of 11 seeds as a function of days.
From this graph we can see that pretty much all the seed germinated well with an
exceptionally good germination rate for green lentils and soft wheat though out all days.
We can also see that the green lentils, soft wheat, mung bean and china rose radish
reaches 100% germination by forth day. The Adzuki had a very slow growth rate in the
beginning but, by the end of forth day it reached 92%. Alfa Alfa and red clover had a
pretty slow and steady growth rate through out the five days. From these observations, in
terms of fast germination rate, we can see that green lentils, soft wheat and mung bean
would be better choice.
The other concern I had when I was doing this experiment was the molds that
appeared in the seeds. So, I accounted for these molds and plotted a graph to see the
sensitivity of these seeds for molds.
A Graph Of Mold Rate Vs Days
120
Mung Bean
Mold Rate (%)
100
Green Lentil
Buck Weat
80
Red clover
Alfa Alfa
60
Soft Wheat
40
Oil Seed Radish
Black Mustard
20
China Rose Radish
Adzuki
0
-20
0
2
4
6
Sunflower
Days
Figure 2: A graph that shows the rate at which the seeds were infected with mold as a
function of days
From this graph we can see that sunflower was the one to get mold in first place.
The black mustard, sunflower and oil seed radish were affected a lot by molds. We can
also see that Adzuki, Green Lentils, and Alfa Alfa are very resistant for mold. In
analyzing the reason for the mold, the Petri-dish was not contaminated because they were
sterilized. The other possibilities of contamination would be that of the water, seed or air.
The distribution of water and air contamination would be equal for all the seed since we
used the same spoon, water and air. If the contamination was from seed, then it would be
isolated for each seed however, most of the seed were in contact with each other. We
noticed that green lentils and alfa alfa did not get mold although they were in contact with
another seed that already had mole in these 5 day period. This shows that these seeds are
pretty resistant for mold. Therefore, if we were to choose a seed that is most resistance
for mold it would be one of Adzuki, Green Lentils or Alfa Alfa.
I also noticed a difference in the water level in all three dishes. By 4th day dish 1
and 3 were dried out of water and even on 5th day the dish 3 still had water vapor (drops)
in the dish. If we noticed the seed content in all these three dishes we can see that dish 1
and 3 had large seed while dish 2 had smaller seed. I also noticed on day 4 that the slot
just above Red clover (a small seed) in dish 1 has small water drops in the lid. This
shows that the water consumption is higher for larger seed compared to that of smaller
seeds.
Conclusion:
In terms of fast germination rate, green lentils, mung bean and soft weat are our
best choice. However, in terms of mold resistivity, Adzuki, Green Lentils and Alfa Alfa
would be our better choice. In terms of water consumption any smaller seeds would
work well. Considering all these I would choose Green Lentils to do my experiment on
effect of radiation on seed germination.