Earthworms And Organic Fertilizers

Earthworms primarily communicate with each other through touch and taste. However, this communication is not often seen, as earthworms are known for their lack of social behaviour.

The purpose of this lab was to investigate and observe the effects of organic vs. synthetic fertilizers on plant growth by planting lima beans with added amounts of fertilizers, and to see how does adding different nutrients to the soil affect the growth of the lima bean? A significant difference was examined between the plants that contained manure and miracle growth, unfortunately the plant with no additional fertilizers (Plant #3) did not show any growth. The plant that grew the most was the one that contained manure, to an extent the one that grew the most in a short period of time was the one that contained miracle growth, as shown in figure I. The hypothesis explaining if the Lima Bean plant contains synthetic nutrients in the soil then

Nutrients that are obtained from the soil from plant roots are nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sulfur, Magnesium, Calcium, Iron, Boron, Manganese, Zinc, Molybdenum, Copper. These twelve elements that are obtained from the soil are called mineral nutrients which are then split into more groups; primary, intermediate and micronutrients (Essential Nutrients, n.d.). Primary nutrients are called by its name because they needed and are found in the most amounts. Primary nutrients include nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. The intermediate nutrients are sulfur, magnesium and calcium which are found less in soil than primary nutrients. Primary and secondary nutrients are called macronutrients. Iron, boron, manganese, zinc, molybdenum and copper are called micronutrients because they are needed in very small amounts. So small in fact that they are needed in parts per million, where 10000 parts per million is 1% of the plants intake (Essential Nutrients, n.d.). This doesn’t mean that the plant won’t grow as well without it though, these nutrients can still be essential to maximum growth spurt (Essential Nutrients,

species group. The location of this earthworm was in Australia, where they claimed their habitat

They play a key role in regenerating and displacing soil. Earthworm activities changes both physical and chemical characteristic of soil. They help convert organic matter to humus. Additionally, they ingest other particles (sand grains) and when it is digested and excreted, it is accessible for plants to take advantage of its minerals and nutrients. Physically, the earthworm creates tunnels for air and water to navigate the soil. () They play an essential role in fighting erosion and are vital to plant growth. Healthy soil is depended on a thriving worm population. The ability to break down organic matter and excrete nutrients makes the earthworm valuable to restoration projects. Some people have employed earthworms to prepare soil for the return of native flora. Individuals that utilized this idea have seen better results in the return of their soil ecosystem than previously used methods. The number of

While experimenting with the green beans, the seeds exposed to the organic plant food germinated within five days of the experiment and the seeds exposed to the chemical plant food germinated within six. The seeds that acted as the control had been expected to grow the least, however, it was surprising that they did not grow at all. Both the chemical and organic fertilizers proved to have positive results on the plants. It was also unexpected when the seeds exposed to the chemical plant food surpassed the height of the other experimental seeds after being shorter. The predicted reason for the increase in growth with seeds given Miracle Grow was because chemical fertilizers automatically store up the nutrients and disperse it constantly throughout

This topic is important because in the A-horizon of the soil which contains humus which comes from dead organisms, decaying plants and animal remains. Earthworms inhabit the A-horizon and they can alter the soil structure, the flow of water, nutrients available in the soil and the plant growth, while providing many beneficial functions. The earthworms help increase microbial activity by feeding on microorganisms and then creating casing from their waste which are the cycling of nutrients from organic material into nutrients forms that the plants can use. Earthworms excrete a caste and they can move soil down each horizon so the nutrients from the casts can reach deep down into the soil. The earthworm casts contain essential nutrients and minerals like phosphorus, nitrogen, sulfur, and potassium that are needed to help the plant grow.

Households can recycle and reduce their amount of waste by taking certain biodegradable materials and start a compost bin. It is here that the common wastes such as food scraps, coffee grounds or anything that has a high organic matter can be put together and let nature take its course. “Using composts in agriculture to minimize organic wastes and to reduce the addition of fertilizers and fungicides in crop production is highly effective”. (Stan, Virsta, Dusa, Glavan, 2009 pg 1) So the compost that is produced can be used to help fertilize the ground in which crops even flowers are grown cutting down on pesticides and fertilizers. The organic component, in materials, can be used in compost recycling to help to promote a healthy soil. By having a healthier soil this provides a healthier plant. This

Figure 1. A Comparison of a CAP Recording of an Earthworm to an Intercellular Recording. The “taller” graph is a depiction of a microelectrode recording of an action potential inside a neuron. The highlighted graph is a depiction of an extracellular recording suction electrode on a giant earthworm. The dotted line represents the minimum voltage needed to depolarize an action potential. The results are obtained from a PowerLab Data Acquisition Unit and a LabChart computerized software. The data are recorded in units of milliseconds and millivolts.

The aim of this practical was to test whether a Scarlet Globe Radish will grow higher in cm when watered using different types of water and the hypothesis was that scarlet globe radishes should grow higher when watered with sparkling water as it contains co2 however that hypothesis was proven incorrect. From results it can now be concluded that the control patch surprisingly produced the highest plants in terms of height with an average ground to leaf height of 2.2 cm while the sparkling water patch produced 1.86cm and the filtered water patch with an average height of 1.18. However, from research it was shown that sparkling water was more likely to make radishes grow at a faster rate. A faster growth rate would’ve made the radishes taller

Even though previous studies have shown that earthworm abundance increased with more biomass, the environments in the previous students likely had more conditions available that allowed the earthworms to prosper. Future experiments should be done by mixing together different soil, water, and nutrient amounts to see which mixture earthworms would prefer. Additionally, there are several factors that might have affected the outcome of this research. Very few worms were used as subjects in the containers for this study. Worm density in the outside environment could have an effect on their survival. This study was also conducted in the controlled environment of an apartment room. Temperatures fluctuate and change in the outside environment. These fluctuating temperatures might present different ques in the earthworm’s daily routine of whether it’s time to move or rest. Additionally, the leaf nutrients in this research were all obtained from a random assortment of leaves gathered in the same location as the worms. There might be leaf types that earthworms prefer and increase their survival rate. Finding their preferred nutrient source can help create a fertilizer that can be used on

The hypothesis was not supported by the data. When given 2g of cucumber, white potato, and carrot slices, the mealworms did not favor eating a cucumber in comparison to the other vegetables regardless of the higher content of water. While analyzing the data, it was found that the standard error bars of the cucumber data went from 1.85g to 1.89g and the white potato data went from 1.86g to 2.14g which meant that the true means of both of them overlap making that comparison and data statistically insignificant. Also, the white potato data’s true mean ranged from 1.86g to 2.14g and the carrot data’s true mean ranged from 1.91g to 2.03g, making that comparison also statistically insignificant. However, one thing that

2.Which parts of the earthworm serve as its brain? How are these parts connected to the rest of the body?

As minute as they might seem, we owe it to these little creatures. We have to hand it to them for keeping are plants healthy and our soil nourished. The earthworm lives in moist soil, and mud with dead plant material. There are over a thousand species and they live all throughout the world on all continents. Earthworms feed on dead plant material, mostly leaves, but when roots die off they tend to consume that too. They decompose dead plant material and recycle that as waste. Once soil is passed through the worm the pH of the waste is neutral which allows for a balanced level for the soil. After a worm is done consuming the organic material, the waste from the animal can be used as fertilizer for the plants. Earthworms waste contains nitrogen

The hypothesis of the experiment stated that fertilizer would have the highest average growth followed by the control and then other trial groups. This data is partially in compliance with the experiment’s hypothesis in that the fertilizer group ended with a higher average length than the control group and the motor oil group ended with a lower average length than the control group. However, the hypothesis is rejected because the detergent group ended up having the highest average length and the pesticide average mass (0.48g) was higher than that of the control group (0.45g). All the trial groups in this lab showed a positive trend for the average lengths of the bean sprouts over the period of the experiment (see Table 4 and Figure