Does Manure Increase the Growth

Rate of Plants?

By Blake Venz

Abstract:
Manure increases the growth rate of plants better than soil does. In this experiment the
plant seeds were placed inside half-filled soil pots and then covered with their obligated
manure or soil. the plants were water and left for a day. Plants were measured on every odd
day. E.g. day one, day three, day five, etc. The results demonstrated cow manure to be the
best plant fertilizer because of the nutrient properties of the manure. Chicken manure on
the other hand was the worst in the experiment and did not exceed expectations. The
chicken manure did not provide any nutrients to the plant and that is why soil did better
than the fertilizer. In conclusion, the experiment succeeded in the cow manure aspect but
not the chicken manure aspect.

Contents
Abstract: .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Introduction: ........................................................................................................................................... 1
Practical Write Up: .................................................................................................................................. 2
Results: .................................................................................................................................................... 3
Analyses and Discussion: ........................................................................................................................ 7
Evaluation: .............................................................................................................................................. 7
Conclusion: .............................................................................................................................................. 8

Introduction:
Plant growth can be effected by manure or facies in the natural environment. This
experiment is to determine whether plants grow slower or faster with manure. Plant
growth can be changed by many factors. These factors may include; sunlight, water and soil
type. Soil type is the main part of this experiment and is one of the main factors to plant
growth. Researchers have found that plants grow much faster with fertilizer. If manure is
added to plants than the plants will grow taller because the manure carries important
nutrients that plants need to grow and with the extra nutrients the plants can grow bigger.
This experiment could be true to the hypothesis or it could go and do the opposite as the
hypothesis. The area in which we are conducting the experiment has never had another
experiment done there so the plant experiment could go horribly wrong. This area cannot
confirm the hypothesis given because the conditions are not tested yet. Plants grow faster
with manure is a relevant topic because in the future this will help farmers grow their plants
without pesticides or any added non-natural fertilizer and have their plants grow faster and
bigger and stronger with all natural cow manure or chicken manure. Society will also benefit
from this because fruit and vegetable will no longer taste funny and the will also look more
natural. This will also benefit farm animals because the farm animals can now eat the
pesticide and non-natural fertilizer free fruit and vegetable scraps.
What plants grow the fastest?

Plants grow quickly because the way they are cared for and the type of plants. Flowers tend
to grow faster than regular plants and food producing plants because flowers do not have to
grow fruits or vegetables on them and only should have to grow the seeds. The plants that
grow the quickest are sunflowers. There are many different types of sunflowers and most of
them grow to a metre or even two metres. The sunflower that has been chosen for this
experiment is the Teddy Bear sunflower. This sunflower grows the quickest and is most
suitable for the experiment because they grow in 7 to 10 days with the right amount of
cover and shade.

Practical Write Up:

To determine whether animal manure can affect the growth rate of plants so non-natural
fertilizer is no longer needed.
Hypothesis:
If animal facies are added to plant soil, then the plant growth rate will be faster than regular
soil because the manure will provide extra plant nutrients than just the normal number of
nutrients provided in regular un fertilized soil.

Variables:
Independent variables

Sunlight each day

weather
Dependant variables

Controlled variables

Amount of water
 Amount of soil
Risk assessment:

Hazard Prevention Management

Inhalation of manure Masks. Not too much contact.
Seeds being eaten Dont eat them. Dont think theyre food.
Pots being broken. Dont step on them. Dont leave the pots lying
around.

Equipment:

3 pots
Cow manure
Chicken manure
Soil
Shovel
Sunflower seeds
Some water
Measuring cylinder

Method:
1. The pots were labelled 1, 2 and 3
2. Pots were placed on the ground.
3. Each pot was filled halfway with soil.
4. Seeds were then placed in the pots.
5. First the soil was shovelled on top of the first pot.
6. Second the chicken manure was shovelled on top of the second pot.
7. Then the rest of the cow manure was shovelled on to the third pot.
8. Pots were all given water in a jug
9. Pots were placed in appropriate locations
10. Measurements were taken

Results:
Tables:

Day One Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3

 Height N/A N/A N/A
Width N/A N/A N/A
Diameter N/A N/A N/A

Day Three Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3

Height 0.3cm 1.8cm 2.1cm
Width 0.2cm 0.6 0.8
Diameter N/A N/A N/A

Day Five Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3

Height 1.6cm 3.2cm 3.6
Width 0.4cm 0.9cm 1.1cm
Diameter N/A N/A N/A

Day Seven Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3

Height 3.3cm 4.2cm 4.9cm
Width 0.7cm 1.1cm 1.3cm
Diameter 0.3cm 0.6cm 0.7cm

Day Nine Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3

Height 4.1cm 5.3cm 5.4cm
Width 1.4cm 1.5cm 1.6cm
Diameter 0.3cm 0.6cm 5cm

Day Eleven Plant 1 Plant 2 Plant 3

Height 5.4cm 5.3cm 5.4cm
Width 1.7cm 1.5cm 1.6cm
Diameter 5.9cm 5.8cm 6.1cm

Average Height: Average Width Average Diameter:

5.4 + 5.3 + 5.4 = 1.7 + 1.5 + 1.6 = 5.9 + 5.8 + 6.1 =
16cm 4.8cm 17.8cm
16 divided by 3 = 4.8 divided by 3 = 17.8 divided by 3 =
5.33cm 1.6cm 5.93cm
Analyses and Discussion:

The results for this experiment was more close to the hypothesis than not. The plant that
grew the most in the eleven days was plant c which was cow manure. On the third day of
testing plant c was 2.1cm in height. On day eleven plant c was 5.4cm in height. Plant c was
1.6cm in width on day eleven and on day three it was 0.8cm. The diameter of the flower on
day three was not applicable, day eleven was 6.1cm.
Day Three:
Plant 3
2.1cm
0.8
N/A

Day Eleven:

Plant 3
5.4cm
1.6cm
6.1cm

The results were as predicted, cow manure being the best fertilizer and the best substitute
for soil at which it did better than the soil. Chicken manure was not a suitable fertilizer as
the results demonstrated chicken manure to make the sunflower grow less than the actual
soil test. Soil came in with the second biggest sunflower which was not predicted in the
hypothesis. Both manures were supposed to beat the soil but plant b underperformed.
There is a trend with the soil, it starts out to be the slowest growing plant in the experiment
and then comes in second place beating plant b.

Evaluation:
The plants did not have a problem in the experiment just that they got briefly rained on
before being moved under cover to stop the plants from being de-rooted. This experiment
could be improved by testing the plants inside a green house.
Conclusion:
In conclusion manure was a more effective growth additive than soil because the
experiment proved that cow manure makes a plant grow bigger than a plant in soil. The
theory and the practical work corrected any other demonstration of soil being a better
growth additive. The hypothesis was correct and was proved by the results.

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An investigation into the relation between height growth of trees and meteorological
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