Alyssa Darjuan #5

9/29/14 Block E
Salinization Lab
Introduction
Soil salinity is a serious problem that affects plants around the world. When soil has a salt
concentration that is too high, plants are unable to take in water properly and are unable to grow
effectively. According to the University of California Agricultural Issues Center (July 2009),
About 4.5 million acres of irrigated cropland in California are affected to some degree by soil
salinization. They also state that salinization of soil and removal of salt can also damage the
ecosystem farther a field. Since soil salinization has become a growing problem, a controlled
experiment was conducted to determine how soil salinity affects plant growth. In the experiment,
the growth of mung beans will be tested by watering the beans with five different levels of salt
concentrations. As the salinity of the water increases, plant growth will decrease.

Materials
100 mung beans
10 petri dishes with lids
60 paper towel circles
NaCl (salt)
tap water
2 beakers
graduated cylinder
medicine dropper
ruler (mm)
forceps
electronic balance
China marker (to label petri dishes)

Procedure
10 mung beans were placed in each of the 10 petri dishes. A paper towel, which was cut into a
circle in order to fit the petri dishes, was placed under each of the 10 mung beans, and another
one was placed on top. The petri dishes were separated into 5 groups, with two petri dishes
labeled Group 1, and so on. Using tap water and salt and through the process of dilution,
concentrations of 2%, 1.5%, 1%, and 0.5% were made. One beaker of plain tap water was set
aside to use for the control group. Using a medicine dropper, the seeds were watered with 30
drops of solution. Group 1 was watered with plain tap water, Group 2 with 0.5% salt

concentration, Group 3 with 1% salt concentration, Group 4 with 1.5% salt concentration, and
Group 5 with 2% salt concentration. Then, the watered petri dishes were covered with lids and
placed under a light. Over the course of 9 days, the seeds were continually checked, observed,
and watered when they started drying out.

Data
The control group, which had 0% salt concentration, sprouted the most and had significantly
longer sprouts than those of the other groups. 15 out of 20 seeds sprouted; 5 of the sprouts
were longer than 10 millimeters, the highest being 17 millimeters. Group 2, which had 0.5% salt
concentration, had no sprout growth, but all the seeds had slightly expanded. In addition, 6 out
of 19 seeds had split and were ready to sprout, and 5 seeds had mold. Group 3, which had 1%
salt concentration, had 9 out of 20 seeds sprout. 6 of those sprouts were no longer than 3
millimeters, and the longest sprout was 7 millimeters. 9 out of 20 seeds had split but hadnt
sprouted, and 2 seeds didnt sprout nor split. 3 seeds had mold. Group 4, which had 1.5% salt
concentration, had 11 out of 20 seeds sprout. 10 of those sprouts were no longer than 3
millimeters, and the largest sprout was only 4 millimeters. 2 seeds had split but hadnt sprouted,
and 7 seeds didnt sprout nor split. Group 5, which had 2% salt concentration, had no sprout
growth, and none of the seeds had split. The seeds barely expanded, and they were noticeably
smaller than the seeds in Group 2.

Analysis
16

# of seeds that sprouted

average of sprout length (in mm)

12
8
4
0

0% salt
concentration
(Group 1)

0.5% salt
concentration
(Group 2)

1% salt
concentration
(Group 3)

1.5% salt
concentration
(Group 4)

2% salt
concentration
(Group 5)

!
The average sprout length decreased as the salt concentration increased. Group 1 had the
most seeds sprout and the longest lengths of sprouts since no salt was added to it. Perhaps

Group 2 had no sprout growth because it contained a lot of mold. Although Group 4 had a
higher number of seeds sprout, Group 3 had a larger average of sprout length because it
contained less salt. Group 5 had no sprouts grow, and none of the seeds had split to get ready
to sprout. The high amount of salt inhibited any seeds from sprouting.

Conclusion
This experiment somewhat proved that the salinity of the water affects the way the plants grow.
Since the average sprout length decreased as the salt concentration increased, this suggests
that the presence of salt prevents proper plant growth. Sprouts were able to grow longer when
there was less salt. Since the plants dried out quickly, two more paper towels were added to
each petri dish on the sixth day of the experiment so that they could retain water longer.
Perhaps the warm weather affected the plants and caused them to dry out more quickly. In
Group 2, one seed was removed after two days because it had grown a lot of mold, but at the
end of the experiment there was still no plant growth. More mold had grown, and perhaps the
mold prevented the seeds from sprouting. The petri dishes were placed on the counter under a
light for 6 days, but to encourage further plant growth, they were moved to the top of the rack to
obtain more light. This experiment could be improved by better controlling amount of light the
plants receive, better controlling the growth of mold, ensuring that plants are sufficiently moist,
and decreasing the gradation of the different salt concentrations.

The research conducted in this experiment helps prove that salinization in soil can be
detrimental to plants. The mung beans that were watered with a 2% salt concentration were not
able to sprout, so this suggests that a 2% salt concentration prevents plants from growing. With
further research on this topic, scientists can protect plants from being harmed from soil
salinization.

Literature Cited
University of California Agricultural Issues Center, (2009) Soil Salinization. California
Department of Food and Agriculture. Retrieved from http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/agvision/docs/
Soil_Salinization.pdf