Lilian S. Spriggs 17 January 2012 Jim Hill High School Ms.

Dawson AP Biology

Spriggs 2 Observations: The effect of caffeine on plant growth has been studied time after time. There are many people who believe that the use of coffee grounds can expedite plants growth and development because coffee also contains other ingredients like nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous, which are known to enhance plant growth. Of course, there are many others who think that the use of caffeine for plant growth is useless and, quite frankly, a waste of good caffeine. Purpose/ Question: How does caffeine influence soybean plant growth? Independent Variable: The independent variable is the solution used to water the plants, which are water, caffeine solution and a coffee mixture. Dependent Variable: The dependent variable is the growth of the soybean plants. Constants: The amount of sunlight and water are constants, as are the sizes of the plants containers, temperature of environment, and the concentrations of caffeine and coffee. Hypothesis: Coffee can certainly stimulate growth in plants, because of its high concentration inessential ingredients that promote plant growth that can be found in many commercial fertilizers. Materials:  1 packet of soybean seeds  3 gardening pots  Soil, no additives  Gardening utensils  Tap water  Caffeine tablets  Coffee powder  2 beakers  1 measuring cylinder  1 digital weighing scale  1 black marker

Spriggs 3 Procedure: 1. Fill the three pots with equal amounts of soil. Plant ten soybean seeds in each pot and allow them to germinate. Additional seeds can be placed in the pots in case some of the seeds do not germinate; the additional plants can be removed later. 2. For the first 5 days, water the 3 pots with tap water only. Allow the seeds to germinate for the first 5 days. 3. After 5 days, measure the height of the 10 plants in each pot. Add up the individual heights and divide by 10 to obtain the average height. Record the average heights in a table, as shown below. 4. Prepare the caffeine solution by dissolving 10g of caffeine tablets in 100ml of water in a beaker. Label the beaker caffeine. Similarly, add 10g of coffee to 100ml of water in another beaker and label it coffee. 5. Label the 3 pots water, caffeine or coffee. Over the next 10 days, water the pots once a day with 100ml water, caffeine solution or coffee mixture, according to the labels on the pots. 6. Measure and calculate the average height of the soybean plants every day for the next 10 days. Data and Graphs: The results show that the soybean plants grew faster when they were watered using the coffee mixture, but the growth was slower when the plants were watered using the caffeine solution. Nonetheless, soybean plants that had caffeine additives grew faster than plants with no caffeine additives.

Solution
Day 1

Height of Soybean Plants (mm)

Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

Water 38 Caffeine 37 Coffee 39

46 43 47

53 48 55

61 52 63

68 56 72

77 59 81

85 62 92

92 99 107 65 68 71 102 113 125

Height of Soybean Plants (mm)

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Water Day 5 Day 6 Caffeine Day 7 Coffee Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

Spriggs 4 Conclusion The hypothesis that soybeans watered using a coffee mixture will grow the fastest has been proven to be true. However, the effect of caffeine on plant growth is still a work in progress. Experiments on plant growth using only caffeine have resulted in the plant leaves becoming wrinkled, turning brownish and exhibiting deferred growth. Research: Caffeine is known as a central nervous system stimulant in humans. It increases heart rate and core temperature that lead to higher metabolism. Providing caffeine during the plants growth has been studied for more than decades. Research found that caffeine promotes cell division by increasing intracellular Ca+. (Grabski and Schindler, 1996). However another research suggested caffeine may have an inhibiting effect on plant growth. This caffeine can be negative or positive in plants. Previous studies on caffeine effects on plant growth and development showed all different results (Lahouti and Jamshidi, 2007; Grabski and Schindler, 1996). An increasing dose of caffeine reduced vegetative growth of bean seedlings by disrupting the apical meristem cells growth (Lahouti and Jamshidi, 2007). At the same time, caffeine indirectly promotes cell division by increasing intracellular Ca+. Ca+ is essential in cell division and its cytokinesis. (Grabski and Schindler, 1996). This research was based on those two previous studies. Bonsignore and Hepler (1985) showed that caffeine disrupts normal plate formation. They observed that caffeine inhibits callose deposition in the cell plate and the depolyrization of microtubules (Yasuhara, 2005). It has been researched at the cell biology level. My research is trying to find any relationship with previous findings. Previous findings are possible explanations for why the control group has the tallest height and largest biomass while the experimental group 4 with the largest caffeine concentration showed the shortest height and smallest biomass. In conclusion, my results reveal that caffeine disrupts plant growth, and coffee powder has a slim plant growth affect. My data supports previous research; however, the hypothesis is disproved.

Spriggs 5 Previous studies suggest that caffeine indirectly promotes cytokinesis and plant growth. My overall observation indicates the strong relationship between increasing caffeine concentration and decreasing plant growth rate. Works Cited: Bonsignore, C.L and P.K. Hepler, 1985. Caffeine inhibition of cytokinesis: Dynamics of cell plate formation-deformation in vivo. Protoplasma, 129:28-35 Mehrdad Lahouti and Samaneh Jamshidi (2007) Effect of Caffeine on Structure and Ultrastructure of Shoot Apical Meristem of Phaseolus vulgaris L. 379-384. International Journal of Botany. Sharon Grabski and Melvin Schindler (1996) Auxins and Cytokinins as Antipodal Modulators of Elasticity within the Actin Network of Plant Cells. 110: 965-970. Plant Physiology. Yasuhara, H., 2005. Caffeine inhibits callose deposition in the cell plate and the depolymerization of microtubules in the central region of the phragmoplast. Plant Cell Physiology, 46: 1083-1092.