Allelopathy Paper

Introduction: Considering the beneficial properties of plants, not only to us, but the environment as well, it is important to understand the nature of Allelopathy and how it affects plant ecology. According to the Topics in Biology Laboratory Manuel, allelopathy refers to “the beneficial or harmful effects of one plant on another plant, by the release of chemicals from plant parts in both natural and agricultural systems.” By secretion of biochemical materials, allelopathy involves a plant’s ability to inhibit germination or growth of the surrounding germination. In our exercise, we tested for the presence of allelopathic chemicals in plant shoots and the effect of the allelopathic chemicals (our I.V.) on the germination and growth (our D.V.) on radish seeds. The question proposed became, “Does Rose seed extract affect the germination and growth of radish seeds?” Keeping the allelopathic effects in mind, our working hypothesis became, “If radish seeds get exposed to the rose leaf extract, then their percent successful germination and the average length will be less than the percent successful germination and the average length of the radish seeds which do not get exposed to the Rose leaf extract.”
Materials:
For week 1 and week 2 the following materials were used: 10 grams of fresh leaves (rose), sandwich-type plastic bag, a scale, a blender, 100 mL of distilled water, folded cheesecloth, a funnel, one stock bottle, 3 pieces of filter paper, two Petri dishes, and 40 radish seeds.
Methods:
According to the Topics in Biology Laboratory Manuel, the experiment was conducted as follows: First we needed to collect fresh leaves from one plant species, and fill up a plastic sandwich bag, which we were to bring with us to the lab. Next in groups we were to weigh 10 grams of leaves from the one plant species and place the measured sample in a blender. Next we added the 100 mL of distilled water to the blender. Holding the lid of the blender, we blended the mixture