The effect of zinc on Brassica juncea's absoprtion abilities
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
11th Grade
Presentation Topic
Botany
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Oral Presentation Award
3rd Place
Written Paper Award
2nd Place
Abstract
In many developing countries, sufficient and inexpensive resources needed to provide their citizens with safe and healthy food are not available. Because of various issues such as money, many areas are searching for cheap and accessible methods to prevent contaminants from entering through the ground and toxicating their food. One way to eliminate this is through a process called phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is when plants are used to eradicate harmful metal contaminants from the soil. They are able to do this by absorbing the metals into their roots. In this experiment, Brassica juncea seeds were planted into the soil with varying amounts of zinc to see how much zinc the plants could remove. The purpose was to see which group of plants could not only consume the most zinc, but grow the longest roots, which would much aid in the phytoremediation process. It was hypothesized that if Brassica juncea is grown in an environment with 2.6 ppm of zinc present, then it will result in the most absorption of the metal and inhibit the greatest root growth. In this experiment, 3 groups of plants were grown having a zinc concentration of 0.8 ppm, 2.6 ppm, and 3.7 ppm. After a period of 6 weeks, 5 plants chosen at random from each group were measured for their absorbance. This was done by viewing pieces of the plant’s root combined with a Zincon reagent under the microscope. The reagent allowed for the color of the root tissue to change to a shade of blue depending on the amount of zinc present. The darker the blue, resulted in more zinc being present. Each shade was then matched with its closest color on a color scale ranging from 0.0m ppm to 4.0 ppm. A one-way ANOVA was conducted and then a post-hoc tukey test. The results showed that at α = 0.05, F(2, 12) = 12.67, p < 0.001. Because the p-value was less than the alpha value, it was concluded that the null hypothesis was rejected. The tukey test then confirmed that there was a difference in mean concentrations between groups 0.8 ppm and 3.7ppm, and groups 2.6 ppm and 3.7 ppm. It was concluded that the plant Brassica juncea was very efficient in the phytoremediation process. As the zinc concentrations increased, the zinc absorption amount increased as well. Overall, the plant group containing 2.6 ppm of zinc concentration inhibited the great root growth and was able to absorb much zinc.
Recommended Citation
Meda, Rahithya, "The effect of zinc on Brassica juncea's absoprtion abilities" (2018). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 144.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2018/all/144
Location
Neville 105
Start Date
4-14-2018 10:15 AM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
The effect of zinc on Brassica juncea's absoprtion abilities
Neville 105
In many developing countries, sufficient and inexpensive resources needed to provide their citizens with safe and healthy food are not available. Because of various issues such as money, many areas are searching for cheap and accessible methods to prevent contaminants from entering through the ground and toxicating their food. One way to eliminate this is through a process called phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is when plants are used to eradicate harmful metal contaminants from the soil. They are able to do this by absorbing the metals into their roots. In this experiment, Brassica juncea seeds were planted into the soil with varying amounts of zinc to see how much zinc the plants could remove. The purpose was to see which group of plants could not only consume the most zinc, but grow the longest roots, which would much aid in the phytoremediation process. It was hypothesized that if Brassica juncea is grown in an environment with 2.6 ppm of zinc present, then it will result in the most absorption of the metal and inhibit the greatest root growth. In this experiment, 3 groups of plants were grown having a zinc concentration of 0.8 ppm, 2.6 ppm, and 3.7 ppm. After a period of 6 weeks, 5 plants chosen at random from each group were measured for their absorbance. This was done by viewing pieces of the plant’s root combined with a Zincon reagent under the microscope. The reagent allowed for the color of the root tissue to change to a shade of blue depending on the amount of zinc present. The darker the blue, resulted in more zinc being present. Each shade was then matched with its closest color on a color scale ranging from 0.0m ppm to 4.0 ppm. A one-way ANOVA was conducted and then a post-hoc tukey test. The results showed that at α = 0.05, F(2, 12) = 12.67, p < 0.001. Because the p-value was less than the alpha value, it was concluded that the null hypothesis was rejected. The tukey test then confirmed that there was a difference in mean concentrations between groups 0.8 ppm and 3.7ppm, and groups 2.6 ppm and 3.7 ppm. It was concluded that the plant Brassica juncea was very efficient in the phytoremediation process. As the zinc concentrations increased, the zinc absorption amount increased as well. Overall, the plant group containing 2.6 ppm of zinc concentration inhibited the great root growth and was able to absorb much zinc.
