BIOASSAY IN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Title:

BROWN ALGAE (SARGASSUM WIGHTII ) AS ORGANIC FERTILIZER for CORN

SEEDLING

Author: MAED-GENSCI

REBECA S. LEDESMA

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSAY:

1. Determine the effect of brown algae extract to the growth of corn seedling.

2. To know which among the intervention is most effective in the growth of corn seedling.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIMEN/PLANT:

CORN PLANT (Zea mays)

Taxonomic Information 

Corn plant (Zea Mays) is a species of plants in the genus Zea L., in the subtribe

Tripsacinae, in the tribe Andropogoneae, in the subfamily of Panicoideae of the grass family

(Poaceae). It is a robust monoecious annual plant, which requires the help of man to disperse its

seeds for propagation and survival. Corn is the most efficient plant for capturing the energy of

the sun and converting it into food, it has a great plasticity adapting to extreme and different

conditions of humidity, sunlight, altitude, and temperature. It can only be crossed experimentally

with the genus Tripsacum, however member species of its own genus (teosinte) easily hybridise

with it under natural conditions.

Corn plant is an allogamous plant that can propagates through seed produced

predominantly by cross- pollination and depends mainly on wind borne cross-fertilization. The

interaction between domesticated plants and their wild relatives can lead to hybridisation and in

many cases to gene flow of new alleles from a novel crop into the wild population. Some teosinte

species can produce fertile hybrids with maize and it has been documented that maize and

teosinte often interact.

Corn plant is a tall annual grass with a stout, erect, solid stem. The large narrow leaves

have wavy margins and are spaced alternately on the opposite sides of the stem. Staminate

(male) flowers are born on the tassel terminating the main axis of the stem. The pistillate

(female) inflorescences, which mature to become the edible ears are spikes with a thickened axis,

bearing paired spikelets in longitudinal rows; each of spikelets normally produces two rows of

grains. Varietes of yellow and white corn are the most popular as food, though there are varieties

with red, blue, pink, and black kernels, often banded, spotted, or striped. Each ear is enclosed by

modified leaves called shucks or husks.

 Classification of corn is based mainly on kernel texture, include dent corn, flint corn,

flour corn and sweet corn. Dent corn primarily grown as animal food for food manufacturing, is

characterized by a depression in the crown of the kernel. Flint corn, containing little soft starch,

has no depression. Flour corn, composed largely of soft starch, has soft, mealy, easily ground

kernels and is an important source of corn flour. Sweet corn, commonly sold fresh, frozen, or

canned as a vegetable, has wrinkled transluscent seeds; the plant sugar is not converted to starch

as in other types.

DESCRIPTION OF INTERVENTION USED:

The intervention used in the study is brown algae extract. It is used as alternative

fertilizer to corn seedling.

BROWN ALGAE EXTRACT

Brown algae is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) macroalgae (seawed) in the order

Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the

world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral reefs, and the genus is widely

known for its planktonic free-floating species.

Several researchers reported that brown macroalgae contains several kind of bioactive

compounds including growth hormone and several kind of macro and micronutrients such as N,

P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, and Na. Brown macroalgae is reported that is helpful in the growth of

the fruit-bearing plants.

Brown algae extract is one of the ingredients used in organic fertilizers that is more

effective for maximizing the growth and production of plants. The seaweed extract is capable of
promoting growth in both higher plant and prokaryotic organisms (Venkatran Kumar and

Mohan, 1994, 1997).

Materials:

Brown Algae Plastic Spray Bottle

Water Laddle

Strainer Plastic Container

Bowl Plastic Container

Measuring Cup

Procedure:

1. Wash the brown algae with water.

2. Boil the water together with the brown algae for 10 minutes.

3. Separate the extract and put it aside in a container to cool down.

4. Put the extract into the spray bottle

5. Apply the extract into the corn seedling.

PROCEDURES:

A. Lay-out the Plot

The plot has a rectangular shape with the dimension of 1m x 12 m. It was divided into 3;

each division has a dimension of 1m x 4m.

 Figure 1: Layout

1m x 12m

1m

1m x 4m

B. Sowing period (1 week)

The seeds are sowed in the plot with in the hole provided. Loam soil will be used in the

propagation of Dent corn plants. On the first week, they are given the different amount of brown

algae extract but of the same concentration. After 7 days, the height is recorded and considered

as the starting point of their growth. One specimen in each sub-plot that shows the best result

will be chosen to represent the effect to the intervention.

C. Application of the interventions

After the sowing stage, application of the interventions started. During the start of the second

week, each specimen in a sub-plot was given different amount of brown algae extract but of the

same concentration. Each treatment has three replicates and each replicate contains 4 corn

seedlings having a total of 12 corn seedlings in every treatment. The replicates for each treatment

was given the same amount of brown algae extract. The treatments applied includes the

commercial fertilizer, 5ml of brown algae extract, 10 ml of brown algae extract and 15 ml of

brown algae extract. The treatment concentration is in a ratio of 500 ml of water in ¼ kg of

brown algae.
 Table 1. Different Amount of Brown Algae Extract for each Treatment

TREATMENT AMOUNT OF EXTRACT REPLICATE REPLICATE REPLICATE

1 2 3

Treatment A (fertilizer) 1 spoon/ 1x a 4 corn 4 corn 4 corn

week seedlings seedlings seedlings

Treatment B (5 ml) boiled 1/4 kg of 4 corn 4 corn 4 corn

brown algae in 500 ml of seedlings seedlings seedlings

water

Treatment C (10 ml) boiled 1/4 kg of 4 corn 4 corn 4 corn

brown algae in 500 ml of seedlings seedlings seedlings

water

Treatment D (15 ml) boiled 1/4 kg of 4 corn 4 corn 4 corn

brown algae in 500 ml of seedlings seedlings seedlings

water

The time of application given will be the same, preferably every 5pm in the afternoon.

Within 4 weeks, the plants will be observed. Every 7 days data will be gathered by measuring the

growth in terms of height of corn seedling.

LOCATION:

In Brgy. Taba-ao, Sagay City, Negros Occidental at our residence

MATERIALS USED:

 CORN SEED

 PLOT

 BROWN ALGAE EXTRACT

 RULER

 BOTTLE SPRAYER

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This study aims to find out the effect of brown algae extract as alternative fertilizer to the

growth of corn seedling and to answer the question does brown algae extract as alternative

fertilizer really affects the growth of corn seedling?

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Complete Random Design (CRD) was used. A completely randomized design (CRD) is

an experiment where the treatments are assigned at random. Every experimental unit has the

same odds of receiving a particular treatment. This design is usually only used in lab

experiments, where environmental factors are relatively easy to control for; it is rarely used out

in the field, where environmental factors are usually impossible to control. When a CRD has two

treatments, it is equivalent to a t-test.

A completely randomized design is generally implemented by:

1. Listing the treatment levels or treatment combinations.

2. Assigning each level/combination a random number.

3. Sorting the random numbers in order, to produce a random

Hence, this study thus fits the conditions for utilizing Complete Randomize Design (CRD).
REFERENCES

https://www.britannica.com/plant/corn-plant

https://bch.cbd.int/en/database/ORGA/BCH-ORGA-SCBD-2426/6

https://www.cabi.org/isc/datasheet/57417

https://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.5141322

Act 1

Community ecology deals with the group of various kinds of population in the areas. A group of

several species (plants/ animals) living together with mutual tolerance in a natural area is called

as a community.

characteristics of an ideal living community

The community has the following characteristics:

(a) Species Diversity:

Each community consists of different organisms like plants, animals, microbes etc. They differ

taxonomically from each other. This species diversity may be regional or local.

(b) Growth From and structure:

Community can be analysed ‘ in terms of major growth forms like trees, shrubs, herbs etc. In

each growth from as in trees, there may be different kinds of plants as-broad leave trees,

evergreen trees etc. These different growth forms determine the structural pattern of a

community.

(c) Dominance:

All species are not equally important in each community. The nature of the community is

determined by a few species in a community. These limited species have control and dominating

influence in the community.

Self reliance:

Each community has a group of autotrophic plants as well as heterotrophic animals. The

autotrophic plants are self dependent.

(e) Relative abundance:

Different populations in a community exist in relative proportions and this idea is called as

relative abundance.

(f) Trophic structure:

Each community has a trophic structure that determines the flow of energy and material from

plants to herbivores to carnivores.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity includes not only species we consider rare, threatened, or endangered but also every

living thing—from humans to organisms we know little about, such as microbes, fungi, and

invertebrates. The term biodiversity (from “biological diversity”) refers to the variety of life on

Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological,

and cultural processes that sustain life.

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The term biodiversity (from “biological diversity”) refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its

levels, from genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural

processes that sustain life.

Red-shanked douc spotted during a field survey in Central Vietnam.

Biodiversity includes not only species we consider rare, threatened, or endangered but also every

living thing—from humans to organisms we know little about, such as microbes, fungi, and

invertebrates.

At the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, we include humans and human cultural

diversity as a part of biodiversity. We use the term “biocultural” to describe the dynamic,

continually evolving and interconnected nature of people and place, and the notion that social

and biological dimensions are interrelated. This concept recognizes that human use, knowledge,

and beliefs influence, and in turn are influenced, by the ecological systems of which human

communities are a part. This relationship makes all of biodiversity, including the species, land

and seascapes, and the cultural links to the places where we live—be right where we are or in

distant lands—important to our wellbeing as they all play a role in maintaining a diverse and

healthy planet.

Why Is Biodiversity Important?

Biodiversity is important to most aspects of our lives. We value biodiversity for many reasons,

some utilitarian, some intrinsic. This means we value biodiversity both for what it provides to

humans, and for the value it has in its own right. Utilitarian values include the many basic needs

humans obtain from biodiversity such as food, fuel, shelter, and medicine. Further, ecosystems

provide crucial services such as pollination, seed dispersal, climate regulation, water purification,
nutrient cycling, and control of agricultural pests. Biodiversity also holds value for potential

benefits not yet recognized, such as new medicines and other possible unknown services.

Biodiversity has cultural value to humans as well, for spiritual or religious reasons for instance.

The intrinsic value of biodiversity refers to its inherent worth, which is independent of its value

to anyone or anything else. This is more of a philosophical concept, which can be thought of as

the inalienable right to exist.

The diversity of species and genes in ecological communities affects the functioning of these

communities. These ecological effects of biodiversity in turn are affected by both climate change

through enhanced greenhouse gases, aerosols and loss of land cover[citation needed], and

biological diversity, causing a rapid loss of biodiversity and extinctions of species and local

populations. The current rate of extinction is sometimes considered a mass extinction, with

current species extinction rates on the order of 100 to 1000 times as high as in the past.[1]

The two main areas where the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem function have been studied are

the relationship between diversity and productivity, and the relationship between diversity and

community stability.[2] More biologically diverse communities appear to be more productive (in

terms of biomass production) than are less diverse communities, and they appear to be more

stable in the face of perturbations.

Also animals that inhabit an area may alter the surviving conditions by factors assimilated by

climate.
Energy flows directionally through Earth’s ecosystems, typically entering in the form of sunlight

and exiting in the form of heat. However, the chemical components that make up living

organisms are different: they get recycled.

What does that mean? For one thing, the atoms in your body are not brand new. Instead, they've

been cycling through the biosphere for a long, long time, and they've been part of many

organisms and nonliving compounds along the way. You may or may not believe in

reincarnation as a spiritual concept, but there's no question that atoms in your body have been

part of a huge number of living and nonliving things over the course of time

The six most common elements in organic molecules—carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen,

phosphorus, and sulfur—take a variety of chemical forms. They may be stored for long or short

periods in the atmosphere, on land, in water, or beneath the Earth’s surface, as well as in the

bodies of living organisms. Geologic processes—such as weathering of rocks, erosion, water

drainage, and the subduction of continental plates—all play a role in this recycling of materials,

as do interactions among organisms.

The ways in which an element—or, in some cases, a compound such as water—moves between

its various living and nonliving forms and locations is called a biogeochemical cycle. This name

reflects the importance of chemistry and geology as well as biology in hEnergy flow is the flow

of energy through living things within an ecosystem. All living organisms can be organized into

producers and consumers, and those producers and consumers can further be organized into a

food chain. Each of the levels within the food chain is a trophic level.

biogeochemical cycle, any of the natural pathways by which essential elements of living matter

are circulated. The term biogeochemical is a contraction that refers to the consideration of the

biological, geological, and chemical aspects of each cycle.

matter) is the pathway by which a chemical substance cycles (is turned over or moves through)

the biotic and the abiotic compartments of Earth. The biotic compartment is the biosphere and

the abiotic compartments are the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere.

A biome is a large area characterized by its vegetation, soil, climate, and wildlife. There are five

major types of biomes: aquatic, grassland, forest, desert, and tundra, though some of these

biomes can be further divided into more specific categories, such as freshwater, marine, savanna,

tropical rainforest, temperate rainforest, and taiga.

Aquatic biomes include both freshwater and marine biomes. Freshwater biomes are bodies of

water surrounded by land—such as ponds, rivers, and lakes—that have a salt content of less than

one percent. Marine biomes cover close to three-quarters of Earth’s surface. Marine biomes

include the ocean, coral reefs, and estuaries.

Grasslands are open regions that are dominated by grass and have a warm, dry climate. There are

two types of grasslands: tropical grasslands (sometimes called savannas) and temperate

grasslands. Savannas are found closer to the equator and can have a few scattered trees. They

cover almost half of the continent of Africa, as well as areas of Australia, India, and South

America. Temperate grasslands are found further away from the equator, in South Africa,

Hungary, Argentina, Uruguay, North America, and Russia. They do not have any trees or shrubs,

and receive less precipitation than savannas. Prairies and steppes are two types of temperate

grasslands; prairies are characterized as having taller grasses, while steppes have shorter grasses.
Forests are dominated by trees, and cover about one-third of the Earth. Forests contain much of

the world’s terrestrial biodiversity, including insects, birds, and mammals. The three major forest

biomes are temperate forests, tropical forests, and boreal forests (also known as the taiga). These

forest types occur at different latitudes, and therefore experience different climatic conditions.

Tropical forests are warm, humid, and found close to the equator. Temperate forests are found at

higher latitudes and experience all four seasons. Boreal forests are found at even higher latitudes,

and have the coldest and driest climate, where precipitation occurs primarily in the form of snow.

Deserts are dry areas where rainfall is less than 50 centimeters (20 inches) per year. They cover

around 20 percent of Earth’s surface. Deserts can be either cold or hot, although most of them

are found in subtropical areas. Because of their extreme conditions, there is not as much

biodiversity found in deserts as in other biomes. Any vegetation and wildlife living in a desert

must have special adaptations for surviving in a dry environment. Desert wildlife consists

primarily of reptiles and small mammals. Deserts can fall into four categories according to their

geographic location or climatic conditions: hot and dry, semiarid, coastal, and cold.

A tundra has extremely inhospitable conditions, with the lowest measured temperatures of any of

the five major biomes with average yearly temperatures ranging from -34 to 12 degrees Celsius

(-29 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit). They also have a loThey also have a low amount of precipitation,

just 15–25 centimeters (six to ten inches) per year, as well as poor quality soil nutrients and short

summers. There are two types of tundra: arctic and alpine. The tundra does not have much

biodiversity and vegetation is simple, including shrubs, grasses, mosses, and lichens. This is

partly due to a frozen layer under the soil surface, called permafrost. The arctic tundra is found
north of boreal forests and the alpine tundra is found on mountains where the altitude is too high

for trees to survive. Any wildlife inhabiting the tundra must be adapted to its extreme conditions

to survive.

productivity of any of the terrestrial biomes. Net primary productivity ranges from 2–3 kg m-2 y-

1 or higher. This high productivity is sustained despite heavily leached, nutrient poor soils,

because of the high decomposition rates possible in moist, warm conditions. Litter decomposes

rapidly, and rapid nutrient uptake is facilitated by mycorrhizae, which are fungal mutualists

associated with plant roots.

The tropical forest biome is estimated to contain over half of the terrestrial species on Earth.

Approximately 170,000 of the 250,000 described species of vascular plants occur in tropical

biomes. As many as 1,209 butterfly species have been documented in 55 square kilometers of the

Tambopata Reserve in southeastern Peru, compared to 380 butterfly species in Europe and North

Africa combined.

The tropical forest biome is composed of several different sub-biomes, including evergreen

rainforest, seasonal deciduous forest, tropical cloud forest, and mangrove forest. These sub-

biomes develop due to changes in seasonal patterns of rainfall, elevation and/or substrate.

Climate in these biomes shows little seasonal variation (Figure 5), with high yearly rainfall and

relatively constant, warm temperatures. The dominant plants are phanerophytes - trees, lianas,

and epiphytes. Tropical rainforests have an emergent layer of tall trees over 40 m tall, an

overstory of trees up to 30 m tall, a sub-canopy layer of trees and tall shrubs, and a ground layer

of herbaceous vegetation.
The water cycle is the process through which water moves around the Earth.The water cycle,

also known as the hydrologic cycle or the hydrological cycle, is a biogeochemical cycle that

describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the Earth.

It follows the path of water as it changes from a liquid to a vapor, or even into solid form.

The major stages of the water cycle are evaporation and condensation.

The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple

chemical forms as it circulates among atmosperic, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The

conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biological and physical processes.

Important processes in the nitrogen cycle include fixation, ammonification, nitrification, and

denitrification. The majority of Earth's atmosphere (78%) is atmospheric nitrogen,[16] making it

the largest source of nitrogen. However, atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for

biological use, leading to a scarcity of usable nitrogen in many types of ecosystems.

The carbon cycle describes the process in which carbon atoms continually travel from the

atmosphere to the Earth and then back into the atmospher

Act 2

1.