Analysis of the Effect of Sugar on Kidney Bean Germination

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Analysis of the Effect of Sugar on Kidney Bean Germination
Contrary to our hypothesis that sugar would accelerate germination and growth of the seeds, the experiment showed that it is inhibitive. In the three experiments, all seeds planted with tap water germinated and grew, but seeds planted in sugared water did not germinate. It did not matter the sugar concentration in the water; they all did not germinate. The three experiments showed that germination and seed growth did not need sugar, and quite, on the contrary, sugar was a germination inhibitor. There were no signs of germination or growth in seeds planted in sugared water, which showed that imbibition did not occur.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the imbibition of seeds requires the right and optimal conditions to start. Seeds require moisture (water), right pH, oxygen, and optimal temperature for growth. The temperature is for the enzymes which are activated to accelerate the germination process. The PH value is primarily the optimal condition for enzymes and the cells to do their work. Oxygen is necessary for producing energy in the cells, and moisture is key to activating the enzymes to kickstart germination. If any or multiple of these conditions are not met, seeds cannot grow. This experiment's oxygen and water temperature were the same for seeds grown in sugared and tap water. They were both sufficient for germination and growth since the tap water seeds sprouted and grew. Sugar or lack of it thereof does not affect the temperature or the oxygen concentration of the water. In experiment 1, where the plants were watered with lukewarm water. Lukewarm water did not affect the process of germination. The seeds planted in tap water germinated, unlike those planted in sugared water. Therefore, the temperature was optimal for growth, and the lukewarm water did not introduce another variable that could affect the germination process.
Secondly, beans and many other plants prefer lower pH values CITATION Gen18 \l 1033 (Gentili, Ambrosini, Montagnani, Caronni, & Citterio, 2018). The optimal pH value for beans germination is 5.7 -6.5 CITATION Tan96 \l 1033 (Tang & Thomson, 1996). In this experiment, the pH value was not taken into account, but the likely pH value of sugared water is 7, which is slightly above the recommended value. In contrast, that of tap water is likely lower because of chlorination. It is likely that the PH value of the sugared water versus that of tap water affected the germination process. Further research ought to be taken to determine the effect of pH value on the germination of Kidney beans.
Thirdly, as for moisture, it is likely that the seeds placed in sugared water lacked the moisture content required to start germination. This may seem counterintuitive given that it was placed in water. However, sugared water has other properties that can affect the absorption of water into the seed. Sugar is osmotically active. Hence, when the seeds were introduced into the sugared water, rather than absolving water, they were unable to draw water in and even possibly leeched some of the ...