Wednesday 7 June 2017

Padi Huma Bakilong - Week 4 Report

Seedlings Height and Germination

**This is an attachment for the seedling height record for May 12 2017, which is correctly the third week after the seeds were planted into the soil samples and was erroneously excluded from the report. The last recorded seedling height was at 22 May 2017, which was recorded in the previous week report (Padi Huma Bakilong - Week 3 Report).**

Seedling heights for May 12 2017:

S1

Average plant height: No germination
Germination rate: 0 %
Mortality rate: 100 %


Deficiency symptoms: - No germination

S2

Average plant height: 23 cm
Germination rate: 61.111 %
Mortality rate: 38.889 %


Deficiency symptoms:
-Brown colour at the tip of the leaves (Deficiency in Potassium)
-Leaves are yellowish green (Deficiency in Nitrogen)

S3

Average plant height: 16.833 cm
Germination rate: 57.407 %
Mortality rate: 42.592 %

Deficiency symptoms:
-Brown colour at the tip of leaves (Deficiency in Potassium)
-Leaves are yellowish green (Deficiency of Nitrogen)

S4

Average plant height: 27 cm
Germination rate: 100 %
Mortality rate: 0 %


Deficiency symptoms:
-Brown colour at the tip of leaves (Deficiency in Potassium)

S5

Average plant height: 8.2 cm
Germination rate: 37.037 %
Mortality rate: 62.962 %

Deficiency symptoms: - None observed

Table 1: The average height of the seedlings over four weeks
Soil Sample
Week 1 average height (cm)
Week 2 average height (cm)
Week 3 average height (cm)
Week 4 average height (cm)
Average height for four weeks (cm)
S1
0
0
0
0
0
S2
0
21.833
23.000
24.367
23.067
S3
0
8.633
16.833
24.300
16.589
S4
0
13.000
27.000
38.733
26.244
S5
0
0
8.200
9.167
5.789

Table 2: Number of germinated seeds, rate of germination, and rate of mortality
Soil Sample
Number of seeds planted

Number of seeds germinated
Rate of germination (%)

Rate of mortality 
(%)
S1
54
0
0
100
S2
54
33
61.111
38.889
S3
54
31
57.407
42.592
S4
54
54
100
0
S5
54
20
37.037
62.962

The seedling height were taken over a period of four weeks from 22 April 2017 to 22 May 2017. Table 1 shows the average height of the seedlings over the four week period. As it can be observed, soil sample S4 has the highest average height at 26.244 cm followed by S2 at 23.067 cm, S3 at 16.589 cm, and S5 at 5.789 cm. The seedlings in soil sample S1 failed to germinate. Both the soil texture and the soil pH together contribute to the fertility of the soil as how well the seedlings grew in these soils can be inferred from the results. Table 3 below shows the soil texture and pH comparisons between the soil samples:

Table 3: The soil texture and pH of the soil samples.
Soil Sample
Soil texture
pH (pH Meter)
S1
Clay
6.15
S2
Sand
6.76
S3
Sandy Clay Loam
3.06
S4
Loam
6.39
S5
Sandy Loam
5.33

It can be inferred that the padi huma bakilong seedlings can grow in sandy soil textures, but not in clay soil textures. This is evident in the pH level between soil samples S1, S2, and S4 which are all in similar ranges but only S1 failed to germinate. The seedlings are also able to grow in soil pH as low as pH 3, but the optimum range seem to be around pH 5 till pH 6 as the seedlings in S2 and S4 grew above 20 cm despite the very different soil textures.

Wet Weight of Seedlings

Table 4: Wet weight, dry weight, and total water weight in the seedlings
Soil Sample
Wet weight, W
(g)
Dry weight, D
(g)
Total water,
W-D
 (g)
S1
0
0
0
S2
0.8029
0.0652
0.7377
S3
0.6218
0.0572
0.5646
S4
0.9360
0.0840
0.8520
S5
0.3122
0.0482
0.2640

Analysis of Heavy Metal
Analysis of concentration of heavy metal in five types of soil by using the ICP-MS. Each of the soil are sieved for 15 minutes by using the sieving machine. After sieving, the finest of soil will be used to do acid digestion (adding of HNO3 solution and H2O2 solution). After acid digestion, filter, and dilute sample preparation to the solution. 

After getting the result of the concentration of heavy metal, the average concentration measured of heavy metal are used to calculate the absolute amount of the heavy metal.
The formula that use to find the absolute amount of heavy metal (mg/L) are as below:

[Average Concentration measured (mg/L) x Dilution factor x volume solution (ml)] / Weight of soil (g)

Where mg/kg= mg/L.

The ICP-MS tested 10 types of heavy metal which is Lead (Pb), Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Iron (Fe), Zinc (Zn), Magnesium (Mg), Calcium (Ca). The negative result indicates that beyond detection limit of the instrument, the result is undetectable. This is because the test samples are too diluted. 

Table 5: Average absolute amount concentration of heavy metal in S1, S2, S3, S4, and S5.
Heavy Metal in soil
Average absolute amount concentration of heavy metal (mg/L)
S1
S2
S3
S4
S5
Pb
4.73
3.33
12.01
6.21
2.22
As
0.24
1.58
0.72
-
-
Cd
-
-
-
-
-
Ni
3.77
4.67
4.62
4.77
1.24
Cu
3.33
-
8.93
2.77
-
Mn
46.90
34.92
78.90
58.06
13.85
Fe
9378.56
1581.69
13817.56
6726.28
2878.49
Zn
39.25
21973.73
205.27
55.56
23.19
Mg
1110.25
1448.86
934.35
565.11
753.42
Ca
2735.05
89504.18
758.46
2445.53
382.82

Figure 1: Arsenic

Figure 2: Calcium

Figure 3: Copper

Figure 4: Iron

Figure 5: Magnesium

Figure  6: Manganese

Figure 7: Nickel

Figure 8: Lead 
Figure 9: Zinc



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