Salinity’s Effects on Seed Germination

Introduction

Nearly 42 million acres of irrigated agriculture in the United States are at risk from salt buildup, which either already exists or could do so. It will be necessary to irrigate much of the undeveloped land in the world, which is located in arid and semiarid areas. Right now, the U.S. is losing billions of dollars due to excessive saltiness. By eliminating the water from their cells by plasmolysis or exomosis, salt kills seedlings that are in the process of germination. NaCl, CaCl, KCl, and MgCl are just a handful of the salts and their ions that play a part in this. This lab will only be examining the effects of one salt, NaCl, in this inquiry (sodium chloride). NaCl will be assumed to have the same effects on seed germination as other salts and salt mixtures. The solubility of sodium chloride is 35.7 grams per 100 ml of water. It is common knowledge that ocean water contains 3.5% salt. (100 ml of water and 3.5 grams of salt) Salt content in freshwater is 0.005%. (100 ml of water and 0.005 grams of salt).

Hypothesis

Mung beans are very nutritious legumes with up to 28 percent protein, in addition to calcium, phosphorus, and other vitamins; therefore, a high salt concentration in the soil might impair germination and growth of bean plants.

Objective

The goal of this study is to learn how salinization affects the germination of different types of crop seeds and to what extent salt concentrations prevent germination.

Materials and Procedure

Materials

1. Paper towels and Ziploc bags
2. NaCl concentrations were serially diluted to the following concentrations: 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 grams/100 mL H2O Distilled water
3. Graduated cylinders
4. Computerized volumetric flasks
5. 25 mL balances
6. 100 mL seeds of wheat
7. Squash, or radish

Procedure

1. Measure out the following quantities of salt using a balance: 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 grams
2. For every quantity of salt used, measure 100 mL of water.
3. Stir the salt into the water while combining the two ingredients.
4. Make squares out of paper towels;
5. Spread 10 radish or squash seeds on the paper towel, moistening it just enough to prevent the seeds from rolling off the towel.
6. Place the towel into the Zip-loc bag after carefully folding it in half.
7. Weigh 20 mL of the preferred salt solution using a measuring cylinder, then add it to the plastic bag with the label.
8. To stop evaporation, remove extra air and shut the bag.
9. Keep going through steps 5-8 until every salt concentration has been used. Enter all information in the data table.
10. Until the start of the next class period, store the bags in a safe place (a wall cabinet or drawer).
11. During the following two class sessions, check the condition of your seeds and write your findings in the data table.

Data Collection and Organization

Table 1. Data Table of the Conducted Experiment

Analysis and Conclusion

Analysis

It was anticipated that higher salt concentrations would reduce the amount of germination in the seed when the impact of various salt solutions on the germination of radish seeds was examined in this lab. Except for the 1% salt solution, the results mainly corroborated the prediction of a decline in germination. As opposed to the 0.5% concentration, where only 19 seeds germinated, this salt concentration saw an increase in the number of germinations to 20. The findings and information acquired in this lab mostly supported the idea.

Table 1 demonstrates that 19 seeds germinated in the 0% (control) and 0.06% salt concentrations. The seeds grew in the bags with salt concentrations of 0.125% and 0.25%, increasing the total number of seeds to 20. The 0.5% salt content showed the first indications of a decline in the rate of germination. Only 19 seeds germinated in the 0.5% concentration of salt, according to the table above. At this time, it was anticipated to see only the areas with higher salt concentrations and less germination.

Surprisingly, the findings revealed that the number of seeds that germinated was larger in the 1% concentration of salt than it was in the 0.5% concentration. Table 1 demonstrates that 20 seeds grew in the 1% salt solution. The results solely contradicted the hypothesis at this particular point in the data. From that point on, it was determined that just 7 seeds grew in the salt solution at a concentration of 2%, while none of the 20 seeds at a concentration of 4% did so. Therefore, it may be inferred that salinization has a significant impact on a plant’s ability to germinate (Venâncio et al., 2020). As salt concentrations rise, so does the percentage of seeds that germinate.

In this experiment, salinization levels rise, seed germination reduces as a result. The lab thus confirmed the hypothesis. Seed germination was shown in the laboratory to decrease when salinization levels rose, as expected by the hypothesis. When analyzing the data for this lab, it becomes clear that the germination of the seeds substantially dropped above a concentration of 1%. Salinization and how it may impact plant germination were major topics of study in this lab.

Osmosis started when the salinity levels exceeded 1%. Water was removed from the seeds. As a result, the nutrients in each seed become less plentiful, which prevents the seeds from growing or germinating. The findings from this lab strongly concur with the osmosis concept and theory. The only restriction occurred when the 0.5% concentration of salt had more seeds that had germinated than the 1% salt concentration (Venâncio et al., 2020). This most likely occurred due to a mistake made when calculating the number of seeds that germinated or when inserting the seeds in the salt concentration, respectively.

Conclusion

In this lab, it was possible to better understand how osmosis interacts with salinization to affect the germination of seeds. The many impacts that various salt concentrations can have on the seed germination process are proven by deliberately setting the laboratory and documenting the results. It is clear how salinization impacts plant growth when the number of seeds that germinate declines at salt concentrations more than 1%. As a result, it is easier to understand that increased salt concentrations only temporarily reduce plant germination. Prior to the salinization lab, it was more difficult to comprehend why there would be little to no seed germination at high salt concentrations. If someone wants to know what kind of environment to plant specific seeds in and the ideal concentration of salt to have in that soil in order to receive the largest amount of yield from that crop or plant, the knowledge gained via this experiment would be very beneficial.

Reference

Venâncio, C., Pereira, R., & Lopes, I. (2020). The influence of salinization on seed germination and plant growth under mono and polyculture. Environmental Pollution, 260(2), 113993. Web.