Grant Chen

Ms. Hickman
Biology Period 3
17 September 2016
Investigating the Effect of Sugar Concentration in Growing Solution on Lentil Germination
In this exploration, the effect of sugar concentration in growing solution on the

germination of Lens culinaris (lentils) was tested. Lentils are common in human diet as a

member of the legume family. Germination, as explained by Professor Roger P. Hangarter of

Indiana University, begins when a seed, in this case, a lentil, is provided with water in an

appropriate growing temperature. As the lentils intake water, they naturally expand and the cells

inside the lentil become hydrated. The enzymes inside those cells begin to activate and increase

metabolic activities to increase the rate of growth. As the seed is placed in the presence of light,

the process of photosynthesis begins and further growth and development ensues.
For each treatment, the amount of sugar dissolved in 100mL of water was changed.

Therefore, the manipulated variable is the concentration of sugar in each growing solution

provided to the lentils. As it is difficult to measure the length of growth with enough precision

with a ruler, in order to measure germination, the mass of the lentil will be compared with the

mass of a non-germinated lentil. Thus, the responding variable will be the percent change in

mass of the lentil, representing the germination process and growth.

Controlled variables are necessary to ensure that all germination is kept under the

constant growing conditions, with the only difference being the sugar concentration of the sugar

solution. The sample of lentils should be kept the same so that the lentils are at least packaged

the same, of the same brand, and thus produced from similar growing conditions. The amount of

water in each paper towel was kept constant to ensure that each treatment was hydrated by the

same amount. This was ensured by massing each paper towel and pipetting or squeezing out

extra solution to reach a hydrated mass of 5.30g. The type of paper towel was kept the same by

using the same roll to ensure that the texture of the fabric or thickness of the towel would not
impact how the lentil germinated. Since lentils also require oxygen in air to germinate, the

amount of air was kept constant as well to ensure that different treatments did not receive more

oxygen than others. However, because it is difficult to measure what volume of air is in a Ziploc

bag, the volume of air was estimated to at least reach an approximately similar volume.

Temperature of the growing conditions is a big factor in germination, so all samples were kept in

a constant surrounding temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. Growing conditions such as distance

between lentils may also impact how the lentils in the bags share their resources, so each lentil

was distanced equally from the others to ensure that the lentils would not have to compete for

either space or resources. It is predicted that higher sugar concentrations in growing solution will

lead to less lentil germination, as the natural growing environment for lentils is not high in sugar

and is more neutral in terms of nutrient balance. As a result, there should be, on average, a lower

percent mass change as the levels of sugar concentration increase.

Materials:

25 Lentils (from same sample) 1 Electronic balance

5 Paper Towel pieces (from same 1 Pipette
Cane sugar (from same sample)
roll) Ziploc bags
Water 1 Graduated cylinder (500mL)
1 Beaker (200mL)

Procedure:
 1. Gather all materials
2. Dissolve 0.00g of sugar into 100mL of water in a beaker
3. Lower strip of paper towel into beaker, thoroughly soaking the towel
4. Take out the towel and squeeze out excess water
5. Mass the wet paper towel and record mass (5.30g)
6. Place wet paper towel into Ziploc bag
7. Place 5 lentils evenly spaced out on top of the paper towel
8. Repeat steps 2-7 for 5.00g of sugar, 10.00g of sugar, 15.00g of sugar, and 20.00g of sugar,

making sure that the mass of each wet paper towel is the same to ensure amount of

hydration is kept controlled

9. Before sealing the bags, make sure the amount of air in each bag is the same (this will be

hard to do, but try to eyeball the volume)

10. Place bags in the same environment to ensure temperature is controlled
11. After one week, take out samples from the 0.00g sugar/100mL bag and mass each lentil.
12. In a data table, calculate the percent change in mass of each lentil
13. Average the values for the 0.00g sugar treatment for germination growth.
14. Repeat steps 11-13 for the treatments with 5.00g of sugar, 10.00g of sugar, 15.00g of sugar,

and 20.00g of sugar.

Raw Data:

Sugar 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20

concentratio
n (kg/L)
Mass Final Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final Initial Final Initial
(0.01g) mass mass mass mass mass mass mass mass mass mass
(g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g) (g)
Lentil
1 0.13 0.05 0.12 0.05 0.11 0.05 0.08 0.05 0.08 0.05
2 0.12 0.05 0.10 0.05 0.09 0.05 0.11 0.05 0.06 0.05
3 0.15 0.05 0.11 0.05 0.07 0.05 0.10 0.05 0.08 0.05
 4 0.16 0.05 0.13 0.05 0.11 0.05 0.07 0.05 0.08 0.05
5 0.12 0.05 0.12 0.05 0.13 0.05 0.08 0.05 0.08 0.05
Although there was error in the measuring of the 100mL of water, when taken into

account the sugar concentration units of kg/L, the error is too small to be shown given the

significant figures of the balance. There were 5 treatments of sugar concentrations, and 5 lentils

per treatment. The initial mass of each lentil was taken, but due to their small mass and lack of

precision on the balance, it is difficult to say whether the initial mass is truly 0.05g. Thus, a

percent change in mass was deemed more helpful in analyzing the experiment than a difference

in initial and final mass. In addition, length is not a good method to measure germination as

some lentils may have simply sprouted more. Mass takes into account hydration of the lentils,

internal growth, and external growth all at once.

Processed Data:

Sugar concentration 0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20

(kg/L)
Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent
Change Change (%) Change (%) Change (%) Change (%)
(%)
Lentil
1 160 140 120 60 60
2 140 100 80 120 20
3 200 120 40 100 60
4 220 160 120 40 60
5 140 140 160 60 60
Average 172 132 104 76 52
Average Error (%) 48 32 64 44 32
Sample Calculations:

To calculate the percent change for each lentil, the initial mass was subtracted from the final

mass and then that difference was divided by the initial mass to calculate a percent change.

Although the final percent change should only have 1 significant figure, it can be seen that 2 are

needed to have values that actually differ as the raw data shows. See Lentil 1 from the 0.00g

sugar concentration treatment.

 0.13 g0.05 g=0.08 g ( 0.08 g
0.05 g )
100 =160 c h angemass
To calculate the average percent change in mass for each treatment, the percent change in mass

for the five lentils in that treatment were added together and then that value was divided by five.

See treatment 0.00g sugar concentration.

160 +140 +200 +220 +140
=172
5
To calculate the error in the average, the percent change value furthest away from the average

was taken and the difference is the error. See 0.00g sugar concentration treatment.
220 172 =48 48
Effect of Sugar Concentration of Growing Solution on the Average Percent Mass Change in Lentil Growth
200.00

180.00

160.00 f(x) = - 592x + 166.4

R = 0.99

140.00
Average Percet Mass Change (%)

120.00

100.00

80.00

60.00

40.00

20.00

0.00
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25

Sugar Concentration (kg Sugar/L Water)

Graph:
The x-intercept of the graph is 0.28kg/L, meaning that at that concentration, according to the

trendline there will be no average percent mass change. The y-intercept of the graph is 166.4%,

meaning that lentils placed in regular water growing conditions of 0.00kg/L sugar concentration

will experience an average percent mass change of 166.4%. The slope of the trendline is

-592%/kg/L, meaning that an increase in sugar concentration leads to a decrease in the average

percent mass change of a lentil.

Evaluation:
 After completing the investigation, it can be seen that the hypothesis that higher

concentrations of sugar in growing solution would lead to less germination by the lentils has

been supported, although the large error bars make this statement less conclusive. As

demonstrated by the data, for 0.00kg/L of sugar, there was on average an average percent mass

change of 172%, for 0.05kg/L it was 132%, for 0.10kg/L it was 104%, for 0.15kg/L it was 76%

and for 0.20kg/L it was 52%. It becomes clear based on the average values that as the sugar

concentration increases, the lentils average percent mass change and thus the germination,

decreases.
However, looking at the graph, although the trendline falls in between all of the error

bars, the large magnitude of the error bars decreases the conclusiveness of this experiment. Huge

error values of 48%, 32%, 64%, 44%, and 32% for the sugar concentrations of 0.00kg/L,

0.05kg/L, 0.10kg/L, 0.15kg/L and 0.20kg/L respectively demonstrate how there was a lot of

variance in the raw data values. Although the trendline seems to fit the average percent change in

mass values nicely, it is apparent that almost any kind of trendline could go through the bounds

of the error bars on the graph.

One cause of error could result from the poor precision of the electronic balances. Due to

the small mass of the lentils, the display may have read 0.05g, but the lentils could have ranged

from 0.046g to 0.054g. The same source of error is present in all steps in the procedure that

required, and depending on which way the balance rounded to the tenth of a gram, could have

altered the final average percent mass changes either upwards or downwards. Another source of

error could result from growing conditions. Because so many bags were placed near each other

and some bags even got caught under other periods lentil bags, the lack of sunlight may have

adversely affected the germination of some of the lentils, perhaps explaining the outliers in the

data. Another source of error could be the uneven hydration of the paper towels. Although the
same process of squeezing out excess liquid and pipetting solution onto the towel to reach the

same mass was used, it is likely that some patches of the towel were more hydrated.

Furthermore, water was definitely lost as I handled the towels and placed them into the bags.

This would have led to some lentils with more water, perhaps leading to more germination and

heavier final masses for those samples.

An improvement on the issue of the balances would be to weigh several lentils, perhaps

50, and then divide the displayed mass by 50 and then use that value as the average initial

mass of all lentils for the treatment. This method allows for an accurate measurement of mass

given the low precision of the balances. An improvement on the location of the bags would be to

simply relocate them. In a future run of this experiment, this is a simple fix as long as the

lighting and surroundings of each treatment is the same. An improvement on the inconsistent

hydration of the paper towels would be to either using a misting spray and use a consistent

number of sprays, or to place the lentils in soil and pour over the water. Both of these changes

will lead to more consistent hydration so that each sample in the treatments gets the same amount

of water.