The Impact of Various Water Irrigation Systems on the Biomass Production of Triticum aestivum

Overview

Some studies have shown that damaged irrigation and drainage systems of agricultural nations have caused water-build up and increased soil salinity, which hinders plant growth and decreases crop production. To identify how irrigation systems impact the growth of crops, a study was conducted testing the growth of Triticum aestivum with three irrigation methods: canal irrigation (control), drip irrigation, and subsurface irrigation. It was predicted that Triticum aestivum grown with experimental methods will have a biomass production 30% higher than that of wheat grown with the control method. Three planting containers were prepared with different irrigation methods each. In each container, a total of 30 Triticum aestivum seeds were planted. The plants’ height, germination rate, and biomass production was recorded over a period of 3 weeks. The canal, drip, and subsurface irrigation systems had biomasses of 0.64 g, 1.78 g, and 1.6 g respectively. The difference between the control and experimental groups were statistically significant. Drip irrigation had the highest plant height average, germination rate and biomass. These results supported the hypothesis and showed that drip irrigation can be a highly effective method, especially in areas with dry and salinized soil, such as Iraq. Measure of Bacterial Cell Damage from Microwave Radiation Compared to Conventional Heating as Seen on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus Alejandro D. Tilley Kubasaki Highschool, FPO AP, Camp Foster, Japan Teachers and Sponsors: Jillian Eastman, Jacob Brookover, and Lonnae Calvin The effect of non-ionizing radiation on cell growth remains a topic of debate given its ubiquitous use in everyday electronics and appliances. Microwaves in particular are commonplace for cooking and in communication devices such as cell phones. However, it is not well delineated if microwaves directly cause cell damage or if the cell damage is indirectly related to the heat that generates exciting water molecules. To elucidate any additional effect that microwaves may have on bacteria growth, both a Gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, and a Gram-negative bacterium, Escherichia coli, were subjected to conventional heat from a hot plate and microwaves to determine if there was any detectable difference in growth at comparable temperatures. For comparison, the same bacterial concentration in normal saline was subjected to 10-second intervals in a 700-watt microwave with the temperature and quantitative culture taken at each interval until boiling. This was compared to the same bacterial solution subjected to conventional heating where quantitative cultures were taken at the same temperature as recorded during each microwave interval. Results showed no significant difference between the decrease in growth of both E. coli and S. aureus between conventional heating and microwaving (p = 0.118, p = 0.061 respectfully) although the microwave arms trended toward sterilizing more quickly than conventional heat. There also seemed to be a different sterilization effect for both the Gram- positive isolate as compared to the Gram-positive isolate despite inherent differences in their cell membranes. FLORIDA