Our Year 6 classes conducted an experiment to investigate the effect dryland salinity has on plant growth. We used tomato plants – our unwitting victims – and a good deal of salt!
Out of the six tomato plants used, one was the designated control plant, which means this plant received only water during watering times. Each of the other plants were watered with a solution containing different amounts of salt in water:
- Plant Number 1: control plant
- Plant Number 2: ½ teaspoon of salt
- Plant Number 3: 1 teaspoon of salt
- Plant Number 4: 1 tablespoon of salt
- Plant Number 5: 2 tablespoons of salt
- Plant Number 6: 8 tablespoons of salt
Over the course of a week, we watched the impact our salty solutions would have on the tomato plants. See our photos for the final results!!
In conclusion, we realised that salt really does have a massive impact on plant growth. And some questions we thought we could research further were, if drought resistant crops can be designed, could salt resistant crops be designed too? And, if plants could be designed to withstand, and even use salt for its nutrition, would the fruits or grains of the crop be saltier to the taste?
No more need to add salt to your dinner!
