Fifth Lab Report (Overall Report) : "Ulam Raja"

FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND NATURAL RESOURCES

SS11403 SAINS TANAH SEKITARAN

SEMESTER 2 2017/2018

Date of Submission: 8th May 2018

MRS. DIANA DEMIYAH BINTI MOHD HAMDAN

TITLE : 'ULAM RAJA' Overall Report

NAME	IC NUMBER	MATRIC NUMBER
MOHD FATHULIZZAT BIN ASFI	970528125555	BS17110533
CHIN JIA HUI	970616125600	BS17110550
RINA BINTI SARIKA	981008125096	BS17110233
MAIZATUL AKMAR BINTI MOHAMAD NIZAM	970130235172	BS17110366
NORFARAH A'AINA BINTI BAHARIN	980118126298	BS17160676
NOOR HIQMAH BINTI MASBOL	980607015214	BS17110045

 

1.0      INTRODUCTION

There are 4 main factors which affect the growth of plant, which incude the fertility of soil, the moiture content in the soil, light intensity as well as the temperature. As you can tell, plants are similar to human and animal which need nutrient to grow. The total amount of nutrient that contain in the soil is directly affect the soil fertility. The more nutrient that the plants can get from the soil indicate high fertility of the soil. Next, the moiture content also play an important role in growth of plant as plants absorb water from the soil and they need water to carry out transpiration as well as photosysthesis. Besides, the moiture content is the most important factor espcially during the germination phase, deficiency in water can definitely fail the germination of plant. Where for light intensity, plants need light energy to carry out photosysthesis. Without light energy, plants cannot make their own food, reproduce and survive. As plants are autotrophs, meaning they make their own food source. Lastly, temperature, plants can only survive in the suitable condition, meaning some plants only can survive in high temperature where some of them can only survive in cold weather. Therefore a suitable temperature and condition are needed. Besides of these mentioned factors, other factors such as soil texture, soil pH, water holding capacity and permeability also affect the growth rate and the germination of plant .

      Cosmos caudatus, also kenikir  in Indonesia or ulam raja  which meant "the King's salad" in Malaysia. The leaves of this plant are commonly use for salad and cooking. Ulam, is a widely popular Malay herbal salad that is served throughout Malaysia and refers to a group of traditional Malay vegetables, usually consumed raw. Ulam Raja is an annual which can grow up to 2 m in height. Ulam Raja is a popular herb used in Malay cooking. Their leaves are soft and pungen and tastes like mild mango, the unique taste makes it a flavorful, and serve as side dish which usually eaten with chili paste to enhance the flavors. While the stem is light green in colour with a purplish hue and their flowers are produced on a single stalk on auxiliary heads.

2.0     OBJECTIVES

1. To identify the most suitable soil to grow Cosmos caudatus, because different soil hold different pH value, water holding capacity, nutrient, permeability and salinity of soil. As different plant can growth at different condition.

2. To study the relation of how moisture content, soil texture and soil fertility can affect the growth of Cosmos caudatus.

3. To analyse the growth rate of Cosmos caudatus with the soil minerals and photoavailability.

4. To identify the deficiency symptoms atCosmos caudatus plants in 4 weeks of germination. The deficiency symptoms shows that the soil lack some of te nutrient needed. 

3.0     METHOD & MATERIAL

1. Ulam Raja seeds

2. 5 pots ( with hole )

3. 500ml recycle bottle (for watering)

4. 5 different type of soil texture (divide to two portion which is one portion for soil medium and the other one for lab analysis)

5. Record GPS coordinate soil sample location was recorded.

Figure 1 Kokol Hill

Figure 2 ODEC, UMS

Figure 3 UMS Peak

Figure 4 Kg Excellent

Figure 5 Faculty of Science and Natural Resources (FSSA) Lake

6. 5 recycle empty transparent bottle glass jar for soil texture analysis (same size, smooth surface).

7. 5 empty recycle tin can with same size and poke same number of holes at the bottom of the can.

8. 10 Recycle plastic container for air-dry soil.

9. Masking tape (for labelling jars)

10. Permanent marker pen

PROCEDURES

1.    2/3 pot was filled up with ground soil .

2.    The soil was patted to compress the soil so that the level of soil will not shrunk after watering.

3.    Ulam Rajaseeds were divided equally to each pots which is 18 seeds in each pots.

4.    2cm thick of soil was placed on top after the seeds were placed on the soil.

5.    The pot were labelled by using permanent marker before been placed at the corridor outside the laboratory.

6.    Then, the pot was watered with 500ml of water.

7.    Steps 1 to 6 were repeated for Hill soil from UMS Peak, Red soil from Kg E, Wetland soil from FSSA lake and sandy soil from ODEC.

8.    The soils were watered two times a week until 26th of March 2018.

9.    26th of March 2018 to 27th of April 2018 the soils will be watered once a week only.

10.  The lab soil tests was conducted based on the schedule given (Soil Colour Analysis, Soil Texture Analysis, Soil Moisture, Soil pH, Soil Water Holding Capacity, Sieve Analysis, Soil Permeability Test, Soil Salinity Test, and Soil Nutrient Analysis).

4.0     RESULT AND OBSERVATION

Table 1 : Plant Development

WEEK	DATE	OBSERVATIONS
3	29 March 2018	Figure 1 The seeds were started to germinate in some pots.
		Figure 2 Ulam Raja started to germinate in pot of  ground soil. The height was 6 cm.
		Figure 3 Ulam Raja and other plant species were started to germinate in pot of wet soil. The height of Ulam Raja is 2 cm.
		Figure 4 There were no Ulam Raja germinate in the pot of hill soil but, some species of plant were started to germinate.
		Figure 5 There were no Ulam Raja or plant germinate in pot of red soil.
		Figure 6 There were no Ulam Raja or plant species germinate in pot of sand.
4	4 April 2018	Figure 7 Ulam Raja were kept growing until the height was 8.3 cm in ground soil’s pot
		Figure 8 Ulam Raja and other plant species were kept growing until the height of Ulam Raja was 4.2 cm in wet soil’s pot.
		Figure 9 The other plants were kept growing in hill soil’s pot.
		Figure 10 Pot of red soil still no germination of any species occur.
		Figure 11 Pot of sand still no germination of any species occur.
6	17 April 2018	Figure 12 Ulam Raja kept growing until the height was 16.7 cm in ground soil’s pot .
		Figure 13 Germination of 3 Ulam Raja and the other plant species in wet soil.
		Figure 14 The other plant species kept growing in hill soil.
		Figure 15 Red soil and sand were still have any germination of any species of plant.
7	23 April 2018	Figure 16 Ulam Raja kept growing until the height was 23 cm in pot of ground soil.
		Figure 17 3 of Ulam Raja kept growing until they height were 9 cm, 6.5 cm and 6.3 cm in pot of wet soil.
		Figure 18 The other plants were still growing while no germination of Ulam Raja occur.
		Figure 19 Red soil and sand were still have any germination of any species of plant.
		Figure 20 The different germination of Ulam Raja and other plant species between each of the pots.

Table 2 : Germination rate for each pot.

NO.	POTS	TIME FOR FIRST SPROUT TO EMERGE		GERMINATION RATE
		DATE	DURATION (DAYS)
01	Ground soil	7/03/2018 - 23/04/2018	47 days	Fast
02	Wet soil	12/03/2018 - 23/04/2018	43 days	Moderate
03	Hill soil	No germination occur
04	Red soil
05	Sand

5.0     DISCUSSION

After the eight weeks of observation, the plant in ground soil shows the best germination out of four other type of soils. However, there is only 1 out of 18 seeds that germinate in the ground soil. The height of plant during 8^th week is 23cm, the length of root is 21.5cm while there is 2 other type of plant also germinate in this soil. However, the seed that germinate in this soil grew around the pot not in the middle. This is because the pot was too small and the root of this plant is too long. No fauna found in the ground soil. Besides that, the number of seeds that germinate in the wetland are three. The height of plants is 9cm, 6.5cm and 6.3cm respectively. The length of root are 21.5cm, 13.1cm and 19.0cm. The plants in wetland slowly germinate, it is because of other plant grew in this soil that might cause the competition between the plants. There also no fauna found in the soil. Meanwhile, there are no germination of seeds in hill soil, sand soil and red soil. But, there are two other plants that grew in hill soil while one type of plant grew in red soil. No fauna were found in this three type of soils also.

       Theoretically, the soil texture can be tested by a few methods such as test soil jar test and sieve analysis test. The result of soil jar test and sieve analysis needed to compare to analyse soil texture to come out with more precise result. From the soil jar, the most bottom layer shows that the soil texture is sand while from the sieve analysis test, the soil that remain in the pan and have passes through all the different six of sieve opening mesh size are actually the silt and clay soil. The ground soil, hill soil, red soil, wetland and sand showthe layer of sandy soil is thicker than silt soil and clay soil. On top of that, based on result from sieve analysis, it shows that there are only 3% to 9% of soil are silt and clay. The most precision method to distinguish between silt texture and clay texture are by using hydrometer analysis. From the sieve analysis shows that sand soil have the lowest weight of soil remain in the pan as it explained that the sand contain more sand soil than silt and clay soil. While for the jar test, the layer of sand that can be seen are only one layer which is sand soil layer because the layer of silt and clay soil are very thin as it cannot be calculated. Hill soil contains the most soil remain in the pan but there are only two layers in the jar test. This error can be occur as hill soil is either have more silt soil or clay soil, so the lower the soil texture contain in the soil, the thinner the layer it can be. The experiment that have been conducted can only distinguish a bigger particle in size such as sand soil texture, while further analysis such as hydrometer analysis need to conduct to distinguish a smaller particle. 

     
       Soils host a complex web of organisms which can influence soil evolution and specific soil moisture and texture properties. For instance, earthworms activity increases infiltration rate, or microbial activity decreases soil organic matter due to mineralization. Soil biological properties are also interconnected with other soil moisture and texture properties. For example aeration, soil organic matter or pH affect the activity of many microorganisms in soils which in turn perform relevant activities in carbon and nutrients cycling. Thus, changes in soil properties due to management can significantly affect biological properties in soils, some of them being extremely sensitive to soil management. For example, soil microbial activity can be greatly increased by improved drainage, liming or organic amendments. That is why some soil biological properties can be used as indirect indicators of appropriate soil management and good soil quality, like soil respiration rate or some enzymatic activities that can be derived from living organisms in soil. Soil organic matter is a key factor affecting biological activity in soils. It is the carbon source for many organisms, including soil microbiota. Not only the amount, but also the type of organic compounds in the soil determines its biological activity. For example, microbial activity is greatly increased by incorporating fresh organic residues (such as green manure or crop residues), which can be readily mineralized by microbes.

      The rhizosphere is the volume of soil altered by the root system and is the part of the soil profile where the concentration of suitable carbon sources for many microorganisms is greatest. Organic compounds exuded by plant roots (including organic anions of low molecular weight) alter soil chemical properties and greatly increase the biological activity in comparison to the bulk soil. The rhizosphere is a space of intense interaction of plant roots with soil microorganisms. Rhizospheric microorganisms can significantly affect plant development through the production of growth regulators, by decreasing the incidence of plant diseases, and by increasing nutrient availability to plants. Understanding soil biological properties is important for soil management but also for prevention and control of crop pests and diseases. 

6.0     CONCLUSION

In conclusion, what we can observed after 8 weeks of planting Cosmos caudatus, among the five types of soil, the most suitable soil to plant this type of plant is ground soil and wet soil. The growth rate of Cosmos caudatus are faster in ground soil compare to wet soil. While theres are no germination occur in hill soil, red soil and sand. Among the five types of soil, there are another species growth inside the pot other than Cosmos caudatus except for sand soil. This is because sand soil hold higher drainage system, so that all the nutrients did not hold inside the soil. As for the ground soil, it hold the most nutrient content among the other soil, so the plant can growth faster as it receive enough nutrient, water and have a suitable pH for it to growth. Besides, the ground soil have a slower rate of permeability compare to others, so the water and nutrient hold inside the soil turns it to become the most suitable soil for the Cosmos caudatus to growth. As sand soil have high heavy metal affect from its environment which can cause the availability of plant to grow is lower than other soil. In a nutshell, in order for the Cosmos caudatus to grow, it need a soil with suitable pH value which is in a range of 5.5 to 7.5. The soil texture are silt loam to growth the Cosmos caudatus plant. As it also need an enough nutrient and moisture content for the plant growth faster and healthier.

         

REFERENCES

1.    Lumen boundless biology. Nutritional Requirements of Plants. Access on 20 april 2018. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/nutritional-requirements-of-plants/

2.    T.K. Hartz.2007.Soil Testing for Nutrient Availability Procedures and Interpretation for California Vegetable Crop Production. Access on 20 April 2018.

3.    http://vric.ucdavis.edu/pdf/fertilization_Soiltestingfornutrientavailability2007.pdf

4.    Potash Development Association. 2011.  Soil analysis: key to nutrient management planning. Access on 21 April 2018 . https://www.pda.org.uk/pda_leaflets/24-soil-analysis-key-to-nutrient-management-planning/

5.    Royal Horticultural Society. Nutrient deficiencies. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=456