Phaseolus Vulgaris Experiment

Introduction
The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is a fast growing plant and is used commonly in experiments due to its easy testability. It can grow in a variety of conditions and is easy to see the effects of different treatments. The idea of the treatment that we applied to our bean plants came from our class and scientific papers that help back our experiment. Examining many studies on the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on a variety of plants helped us better understand what the fertilizer was doing to the plants. A study done on Brassica plants showed that when nitrogen fertilizer was introduced there was an increase in biomass production, causing lower stress brought on from B phytoextraction increasing plant growth (Chemosphere). A
To understand this experiment you need to understand the basic growth of plants. This experiment might be interesting to the scientific community to see how nitrogen fertilizer contributes to the growth of plants and, with further testing beyond our experiment, how it chemically affects growth. The general public might find this experiment interesting because, they want to produce good quality crops in the shortest amount of time, and fertilizers may enhance the growth of plants. The article discussions allowed me to see further into the experiment and helps better understand why certain things are occurring in the
We allowed the plants to sprout for two weeks prior to applying our first treatment of nitrogen fertilizer. The seeds are watered once daily and kept in a controlled environment (greenhouse). After two weeks we applied our first treatment of nitrogen fertilizer to 5 of the 10 pots. As we applied treatments to the plants we labeled the ones we applied nitrogen to. We added .5 ml of nitrogen only fertilizer to 5 pots and placed them back in the controlled environment. We continued to reapply the treatment once a week until the experiment was complete. Each week before applying the nitrogen fertilizer we measured the plants in centimeters from the rim of the pot to the highest point of the plant. We kept records of the plant heights to analyze the data at a later time and compare week to week growth.
Results
As shown in figure one you can see more plant growth associated with the control group. The average height in inches fluctuates with the treatment group. The control group has one peak at week three in average height, along with a peak at week 3 in the treatment group. The increased average growth seen in week 3 may be associated with a change in the environment, since a growth is seen in both the control and the treatment groups.