The use of Ortho Home Defence Pesticide in determining the lowest pesticide amount at which nodule formation is stunted in Trifolium incarnatum

Author(s)

Khushi Patel, SVHS

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

10th Grade

Presentation Topic

Botany

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Oral Presentation Award

1st Place

Written Paper Award

1st Place

Abstract

The modern world is awash with pollutants of many varieties. One of the most prevalent of these pollutants are the pesticides which are sprayed across acres of crops to avoid mass quantities of harmful pests (Damalas and Eleftherohorinos, 2011). Pesticide usage around the household has increased over the past few years (Ye et al., 2013). The purpose of this research was to discover the lowest amount of pesticide exposure that has negative effects on the symbiotic relationship between legumes and rhizobia. It was hypothesized that the medium pesticide amount would be the first to show signs of a weakened relationship between the plant and rhizobia. Three treatments of high, 8 mL, medium, 4 mL, and low, 2 mL, of Ortho Home Defense Pesticide were devised and introduced to the environment of three 30-plant treatments of Trifolium incarnatum. Plant height and leaf number data were collected every week for a total of 6 weeks before the plants were removed from their trays. Root nodules were counted and the roots of each plant were also massed. A One-Way ANOVA [F(3, 82)= 2.46, p= 0.069] conducted on the root nodule data from the final week resulted in a p-value of 0.069. When compared to an ⍺-value of 0.05, this data was not statistically significant. There was not sufficient evidence to suggest that pesticides negatively effect nodule formation.

Location

Neville 105

Start Date

4-14-2018 10:00 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

COinS
 
Apr 14th, 10:00 AM

The use of Ortho Home Defence Pesticide in determining the lowest pesticide amount at which nodule formation is stunted in Trifolium incarnatum

Neville 105

The modern world is awash with pollutants of many varieties. One of the most prevalent of these pollutants are the pesticides which are sprayed across acres of crops to avoid mass quantities of harmful pests (Damalas and Eleftherohorinos, 2011). Pesticide usage around the household has increased over the past few years (Ye et al., 2013). The purpose of this research was to discover the lowest amount of pesticide exposure that has negative effects on the symbiotic relationship between legumes and rhizobia. It was hypothesized that the medium pesticide amount would be the first to show signs of a weakened relationship between the plant and rhizobia. Three treatments of high, 8 mL, medium, 4 mL, and low, 2 mL, of Ortho Home Defense Pesticide were devised and introduced to the environment of three 30-plant treatments of Trifolium incarnatum. Plant height and leaf number data were collected every week for a total of 6 weeks before the plants were removed from their trays. Root nodules were counted and the roots of each plant were also massed. A One-Way ANOVA [F(3, 82)= 2.46, p= 0.069] conducted on the root nodule data from the final week resulted in a p-value of 0.069. When compared to an ⍺-value of 0.05, this data was not statistically significant. There was not sufficient evidence to suggest that pesticides negatively effect nodule formation.