Group Members: Mason, Bodee, Garret, and Tanner Team CornHub The Effect of Seed Size on Germination Group Members: Mason, Bodee, Garret, and Tanner

Does seed size affect the germination of green bean seeds? Question: Does seed size affect the germination of green bean seeds?

If the green bean seeds weigh more, then they will germinate faster. Hypothesis: If the green bean seeds weigh more, then they will germinate faster.

Materials Graduated Cylinder Petri Dishes (12) Masking Tape Water (Distilled) Pen Scale Green Bean Seeds Paper Towels

Procedure/Experiment 1 .Weigh out four different weights of green bean seeds (0.2g,0.3g,0.4g,0.5g) until you have 15 seeds of each weight. 2. Get 12 petri dishes, and cut 3 paper towels in the shape of the petri dish to put at the bottom of each one and moisten it until damp. 3. Set up three separate trials for each weight. For the .2g trial, place 10 seeds in each petri dish. 4. repeat step 3 with the other 3 weights. 5. Label each of the petri dishes by trial A, B, and C and their respective weight. 6. Look for signs of germination everyday for 7 days or as needed. 7. Add 10 mL of water (or as needed) over the 7 day period.

Data

Average Germination

Average Seed Germination

Average Percentage of Germination

Percent Germination

Observations during our Experiment During our experiment we noticed several curious sights. Progressively, we found more and more mold in most of our petri dishes. This would have been due to the lack of sanitation while setting up our experiment.

Things We Would Do Differently -sanitize our seeds to prevent mold -add more trials for each weight -add more weights -repeat the experiment but use a different kind of seed to see if or how it would change the results

Conclusion Our hypothesis was originally “if the green bean seeds weigh more, then they will germinate faster.” We ended up concluding that originally our results agreed with our hypothesis. However, by the end of the experiment all of the seeds had about the same amount of germination through the trials. Ultimately, our results are inconclusive and would need further testing to verify our hypothesis.

Further Questions Does seed size affect the length of the hypocotyl at the end of germination? Does mold affect the rate of germination? Does mold affect the length of the hypocotyl?