The Objective : To find out if we can use a biological agent, such as a bacterium, to control some plant diseases.
a. One bag of 50 pound bleached sand
b. Two packs of turfgrass seeds
c. Peter#s Liquid Fertilizer
d. A dozen Petri dishes
e. Dollar Spot Inoculum
f. Growth Medium (Potato Dextrose Agar)
h. 10 six-inch plastic pots
1. Take ten 6-inch diameter plastic pots and fill to the top with bleached sand.
2. Sprinkle 0.25 grams of turfgrass seeds and water it from the top.
3 Add 10 mL of Peter#s Liquid Fertilizer every week.
4. After the seedlings germinate, continue fertilizing till they are two weeks old.
5. Two weeks after germination, clip the grass with a pair of scissors.
6. Obtain a fungal inoculum of dollar spot from a laboratory and apply five grams to all the pots.
7. Cover the pots with a plastic bag for two days.
8. After two days (in two days the disease should spread) apply 15 mL of the bacteria inoculum to 3 pots.
9. Apply 5 mL of fungicide (DACONIL) to three pots.
10. Leave three pots untouched.
11. Visually look at the pots for disease development every day after application for two weeks.
Under the controlled conditions, the bacterium successfully controlled the plant disease.
Based on the experiments, we can see that the disease can be controlled by using a bacterium under controlled conditions. In the real world, we use harmful pesticides to help conquer plant diseases. But if we simply use these harmless bacteria, it would help our environment a great deal.
This project is about how we can use a biological agent, such as a bacterium, to control a plant disease.
Science Fair Project done By Grace K. Chan
<<Back To Topics Page...................................................................................>>Next Topic
Related Projects : Caffeine: An "Astro-pharmaceutical" Defense for DNA ,Antibacterial Properties of Chitosan Nanoparticles , Antioxidant Effect of Vitamin E on Plant and Animal Tissues , Caffeine: Friend or Foe , Can We Use a Biological Agent to Control a Plant Disease , Characterizing the Role of Arachidonic Acid-Derived Eicosanoids in Breast Cancer , Chondrocyte Response to Mechanical Injury , Comparing the Antioxidant Effects of Vitamins , Does Caffeine Affect the Running Speed , Does the pH Level of a Liquid Affect the Solubility of Aleve