Core Practical : Plant Mineral Deficiencies (Mung Bean Experiment)

Plants need to build the complex molecules they need from minerals (elements and simple
compounds), which they get from the soil. If they fail to obtain these minerals which are
essential for their cellular processes and growth, they will be stunted and they could die as a
result of it. Any plant could be used to experiment mineral deficiencies as all plants require
these minerals to grow properly. In this experiment, mung beans were used to test the mineral
deficiencies as they are readily available and are not as fragile as other plants that couldve
been used. Mung beans are a small plant species that are part of the legume family, they are
native to the Indian subcontinent and are grown in hot, dry regions. Being a tropical crop Mung
Beans flourish better in optimum warm temperatures which makes them ideal to use in the
Malaysian climate.
Aim : to find out the minerals essential for healthy plant growth and the effects of deficiency of
these minerals and the roles they play in the growth of plants
Hypothesis : the plants grown with all the minerals will be the healthiest and will grow the most
and the other plants will either have stunted growth or die as a result of lack of minerals
essential for plant growth. It is predicted that the plants lacking magnesium will have yellow
leaves, as chlorophyll will not be produced properly, the plants lacking calcium will have death of
terminal buds and root tips as calcium is needed in the formation of cell walls and membranes
and lastly the plants lacking nitrate ions will be thin with smaller pale yellow leaves because
nitrate ions are needed to build proteins.
Plan:
1. Roll up a paper towel and fit into a large beaker
2. Fill beaker with 15 cm3 of tap water
3. Draw a line around the beaker and place 4 mung beans in 4 different places
equal distances from each other between the moist paper towel and wall of each beaker
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for 5 different beakers
5. Cover the beakers with aluminium foil and make 15 holes on the sheet with a
pencil
6. Place beakers in a location with sufficient sunlight
7. Check on plants daily. Discard seeds that have turned brown. Use those that
have grown shoots and roots
8. Select seeds with roots of about the same length to be used in the experiment
9. Add the 5cm3 of one of the following nutrients to each different beaker (including
10cm3 of distilled water) once every 3 days :
Nitrate
Calcium

Nitrate
Magnesium

Calcium
Magnesium

Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesium

Tap Water

Distilled
Water
(Control)

10. Fill one beaker with only distilled water in it, to be used as a control for the experiment
11. Record the observations and results obtained in the tables below

Nutrients Used/
Observations

Nitrate
Calcium

Nitrate
Magnesiu
m

Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Tap Water

Distilled
Water
(Control)

Nitrate
Calcium

Nitrate
Magnesiu
m

Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Tap Water

Distilled
Water
(Control)

Nitrate
Calcium

Nitrate
Magnesiu
m

Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Tap Water

Distilled
Water
(Control)

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Nutrients Used/
Length of roots (cm)

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Nutrients Used/
No. of leaves

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
***Week 3 (Final week)
Nutrients
Used

Dry Mass/
Biomass (g)

Nitrate
Calcium

Nitrate
Magnesiu
m

Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Nitrate
Calcium
Magnesiu
m

Tap Water

Distilled
Water
(Control)