JAWAHAR NAVODAYA

BANiPUR, ViDYAlAYA
N 24 PGS

BIOL0GY project

PRePAReD BY: GUiDeD BY:

TANVEER KHAN
clASS : xii SCI. MRS. ANEETA DAS
ROll NO : PGt BIOLOGY
12697991
SESSION : 2023 - JNV BANiPUR
24
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Master TANVEER KHAN, student of

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Banipur, N-24 PGNS, of class XII
has completed his project on the title “Effects of Urea on
Plant Growth” under my supervision and guidance.

I further certify that he became successful in this project.

Head of Biology PRINCIPAL

JNV BANIPUR, N-24 PGNS JNV BANIPUR, N-24 PGNS
WEST BENGAL WEST BENGAL
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction to offer my
heartiest thanks to all the people involved in helping me to
complete my project entitled “Effect of Urea on Plant
Growth” successfully. For this matter, I take the opportunity
to thanks our biology teacher Smt. Aneeta Das, who spent
his valuable time for discussion regarding the project and
helped me out to enrich the project with valuable
comments.

Yours faithfully,
TANVEER KHAN
CLASS- XII
ROLL NO.: 12697991
Signature of External
SIGN.:
Examiner
 CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION..............................................................................2
 AIM OF THE PROJECT.....................................................................3
 HYPOTHESIS...................................................................................4
 GERMINATION OF SEEDS...............................................................5
 FACTORS AFFECTING SEED GERMINATION.....................................7
a) External Factors:.......................................................................7
i) Water..................................................................................7
ii) Oxygen................................................................................7
iii) Temperature.......................................................................7
iv) Light....................................................................................8
b) Other factors............................................................................8
c) Internal Factors:.......................................................................8
i) Vitality.................................................................................8
ii) Longevity or viability...........................................................8
iii) Dormancy............................................................................9
 UREA AND ITS EFFECTS ON PLANTS.............................................10
a) How to Use Urea.....................................................................10
b) Advantages of urea.................................................................10
 NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS............................11
 APPARATUS REQUIRED.................................................................13
 PROCEDURE.................................................................................14
 OBSERVATION.............................................................................15
 INFERENCE...................................................................................16
 CONCLUSION...............................................................................20
 INTRODUCTION
Recently increases the demands of the fresh vegetables in day-to-day
life of human being because the vegetable plants and human being
have unique relationship since time immemorial and they played
vital role in the human life. People should consume several hundred
grams of plant-based diet a day since it is a good source of nutrients
and dietary fiber. A plant-based diet – focusing mainly on vegetables,
fruits and whole grains – has become one of the most important
guidelines for lowering the risk of human diseases. Therefore, need
to improve the nutritive value of the final products of vegetables
plant. The important contributions of the nineteenth Century,
experimental plant physiology to agriculture was discovery that soil
fertility and crop yields could be increased by adding several
nutrients to the soil. Even though crop plants require micronutrients
in very minute quantities, their deficiencies may affect fundamental
physiological and biochemical processes, leading to drastic
reductions in yield. Hence, some common fertilizers are used to
increase the crop production. One of the most important and
common fertilizers in them is urea. It is also called as the king of
fertilizers since it has the ability to supply plants with adequate
nitrogen and it can adapt to all types of soils.
 AIM OF THE PROJECT

“To study the effect of different concentrations of urea

on the rate of germination, elongation of hypocotyl
and the length of root.”
 HYPOTHESIS

Fertilizers like urea increase the growth rate of plants, both

epigeal and hypogeal. However, there is a limit to nutrient
intake and excess use of fertilizers can have negative effects
on plant growth.

P
 GERMINATION OF SEEDS

Figure 1.

Seed Germination stages Germination is the beginning of growth of a seed.

The seed must have the right level of warmth and moisture to begin to
germinate. First, the seed leaves absorb moisture which allows the food
reserves to become available to the new plant. It can then produce a root so
that it can find its own water, followed by a shoot which develops from the
plumule, which will allow it to absorb light. The plant needs both water and
light to grow. Different structures seen during the formation of seedlings from
the seed after the germination of seed.
1. COTYLEDONS- It is the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of
which are the first leaves to appear from a germinating seed.
2. HYPOCOTYL – The part of shoot below cotyledons is called hypocotyls.
3. EPICOTYL- The part of shoot above cotyledons is called epicotyls.
4. RADICLE- The radicle is the first part of a seedling (a growing plant embryo)
to emerge from the seed during the process of germination.
Page | 5

Sometimes, the seed leaves, or cotyledons, remain below the

surface of the soil, as in germination of a Pea, below. This is called
Hypogeal Germination.

Figure 2 : Epigeal Germination

Figure 3 : Hypogeal Germination

In some species, the seed leaves remain on the new shoot and
are brought above the ground, as in germination of the Ash
tree, below. This is called Epigeal Germination.
Factors Affecting Seed Germination
Some of the major factors necessary for seed germination in plants
are
as follows:

External Factors:
1. Water
Germination cannot occur unless and until the seed is provided with
an external supply of water.
Water is absorbed by a dry seed through the micro Pyle and the seed
coat. Water performs a number of functions during the germination
of
seeds.
(a) It softens seed coat and makes it permeable. Increased
permeability allows better gaseous exchange.
(b) Water activates the protoplasm of the seed cells.

(c) Insoluble food materials get solubilised in the presence of

water which then diffuses from the storage region to the
embryo axis.
(d) Several enzymes which are essential for growth and
germination develop only in the presence of water.
2. Oxygen
Aeration of the soil is absolutely necessary for the germination
of the seed because oxygen is necessary for the aerobic
respiration by which the seeds get the requisite energy for the
growth of the embryo.
3. Temperature
Seeds normally germinate within a wide temperature range.
However, freshly harvested seeds of several plants germinate
only within a narrow temperature range which widens only
when after-ripening has taken place.
4. Light
Plants differ as to the effect of light on their germination. Seeds
of many plants are light indifferent or nonphotoblastic, i.e., they
are not influenced in the germination by the presence or
absence of light. Most of our important crop plants belong to
this category. The seeds which are affected by light are
described as photoblastic. Sensitivity to light is a specific
character. The photoblastic seeds are of two types, positively
photoblastic or light sensitive and negatively photoblastic or
light hard. The positively photoblastic seeds require light for
germination, e.g., lettuce, tobacco, many grasses and several
epiphytes. The negatively photoblastic seeds cannot germinate
in the presence of light e.g., Tomato, Onion, Lily, etc.

5. Other factors
Many orchids and other plants exhibit seed germination only
when an appropriate fungus partner is available. Seeds of some
parasitic plants will similarly grow only in the vicinity of their
host roots because the latter excrete certain growth hormones.
Seeds of some aquatic plants germinate only at low or acidic pH
 Internal Factors:

1) Vitality
The ability of a seed to germinate when provided with
optimum condition is described as vitality of the seeds. It is
dependent upon its stored food, size, health, etc.

2) Longevity or viability
With the passage of time a seed looses it power to germinate.
Thus each seed has longevity or a period within which it can
show renewal of growth or germination. Most of the crop
plants lose their viability within 2-5 years. Legumes ordinarily
retain their viability for longer periods. A number of seeds have
been recorded to remain viable even after 100 years, (e.g.,
Trifolium, Astragalus, Mimosa species). Many species remain
viable only for one season, e.g., Birch, Elm, tea.

3) Dormancy
It is due to the internal conditions of the seed. It is, therefore,
also described as the inhibition of the germination due to the
internal conditions in an otherwise viable seed. These internal
restrictions must be offset before germination can occur in
dormant seeds.
Urea And Its Effects On Plants
Urea is an inexpensive form of nitrogen fertilizer with an NPK
(nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium) ratio of 46-0-0. Although urea is
naturally produced in humans and animals, synthetic urea is
manufactured with anhydrous ammonia. Although urea often offers
gardeners the most nitrogen for the lowest price on the market,
special steps must be taken when applying urea to the soil to prevent
the loss of nitrogen through a chemical reaction.

How to Use Urea

When urea is placed on the surface of the soil, a chemical reaction
takes place that changes the urea to ammonium bicarbonate. The
ammonium will convert into a gas, which is then lost if not
protected. This means that urea should be mixed in with the soil for
maximum effectiveness. This may be done either by broadcasting
the urea then ploughing it into the soil immediately or by injecting
the urea into the soil. This may also be done by broadcasting urea
then irrigating heavily to push dissolved urea into the soil.

Figure 4. Urea Granule

 Advantages of urea
In general, urea will provide the most nitrogen at the lowest
cost. It is easy to store and does not pose as a fire risk for long-
term storage. Urea may be mixed with other fertilizers or may
be applied on its own. For plants that love acidic soils, urea is
one of the top fertilizers for acidifying soils. For gardeners who
grow crops like corn, strawberries, blueberries and other heavy
nitrogen feeders, urea will supply immediate and powerful
applications of nitrogen.

Negative Effects of Chemical Fertilizers

The biggest issue facing the use of chemical fertilizers is groundwater
contamination. Nitrogen fertilizers break down into nitrates and
travel easily through the soil. Because it is water-soluble and can
remain in groundwater for decades, the addition of more nitrogen
over the years has an accumulative effect.
At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, they discovered the effects
of chemical fertilizers are compounded when mixed with a single
pesticide. They discovered altered immune, endocrine and nervous
system functions in mice, as well as influence on children's and
foetus’s developing neurological, endocrine and immune systems.
These influences "portend change in ability to learn and in patterns
of aggression."
One popular fertilizer, urea, produces ammonia emanation,
contributes to acid rain, groundwater contamination and ozone
depletion due to release of nitrous oxide by denitrification process.
With its increased use and projections of future use, this problem
may increase several fold in the coming decades.
Groundwater contamination has been linked to gastric
cancer, goitre, birth malformations, and hypertension3;
testicular cancer4 and stomach cancer. Excessive air- and
water-borne nitrogen from fertilizers may cause respiratory
ailments, cardiac disease, and several cancers, as well as can
"inhibit crop growth, increase allergenic pollen production,
and potentially affect the dynamics of several vector-borne
diseases, including West Nile virus, malaria, and cholera."
Perhaps one of the scariest effects of chemical fertilizers is
something called methemoglobinemia. In infants it is
alternatively known as Blue Baby Syndrome. The risk most
often occurs when infants are given formula reconstituted
with nitrate contaminated water. The condition causes a
decrease in oxygen in the blood and results in a blue-grey
skin colour, causes lethargy and/or irritability and can lead to
coma or death.
Nitrogen groundwater contamination also contributes to
marine "dead zones". The increase in the water-soluble
nitrates creates an influx of plant-life, which eats up oxygen
and starves out fish and crustaceans. This has an impact not
only on the aquatic ecosystem, but on local societies who
depend on food sourced from those areas.
APPARATUS REQUIRED

 Bean seeds
 Five petri dishes
 Beaker
 Cotton
 Measuring cylinder
 Weighing balance
 Urea as the fertilizer
 PROCEDURE

1. Around 10 bean seeds were soaked in water for a day.

2. Five Petri dishes A, B, C, D and E were taken and moist

cotton was kept in them.

3. Different concentrations i.e. 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.5% and 3%

solutions of urea were made by dissolving 0.5 gm, 1.5
gm, 2.5gm, 3gm, of urea in 100ml of water respectively.

4. Two castor beans were put in each Petri dish. 0.5%,

1.5%, 2.5% and 3% of prepared urea solution was put in 4
Petri dishes A, B, C, D respectively. No urea was put in E as
it is the control.
OBSERVATION
Figure 5. Control Plant
Figure 6 Plant B with low urea concentration

Figure 7. Plant D with high urea concentration

 INFERENCE
In the first day of observation the length of hypocotyl of the control
was around 1 cm and showed normal growth on successive days. On
the other hand in the plant where only 0.5% urea was used grew
faster than the control. The plant having a slightly high
concentration of urea i.e. 1.5% grew even faster and better,
producing impressive results. The length of its hypocotyl reached
around 3 cm on the fourth day. This accounts to four times the
normal growth rate of the hypocotyl of the control.
Surprisingly the plant with 2.5% of urea content was not able to
grow as fast as the one with 1.5% urea. This contradicts the
assumption that high concentration of urea implies high growth rate.
This in other words means that there is always a capacity to nitrogen
intake in plants.
The last plant with 3.0% urea showed negative growth results to our
surprise. It had stunted growth of hypocotyl, even less than the
control. Although the hypocotyl grew quickly in case of the plants
with high urea concentration their leaves were very late to grow
properly. The leaves of the control grew properly. This observation
depicts the negative effects of excess urea on plant growth. The
scenario was a bit different when the root of the plants was
accounted for.
The plant with 0.5% urea accounted for 2.8cm of root length on the
first day of observation, only 0.6cm more than that of the control.
In the plant where 1.5% of the urea was used, showed a better root
growth than control and the one with only 5% urea.
But the plant with 2.5% urea and 3.0% urea showed less growth than
the first two.
The last plant with 3.0% urea showed lesser root growth even in
comparison with the control.
Hence our hypothesis that there is always a capacity for nitrogen
intake holds true and high nitrogen intake affects the plants too in
many ways. Most importantly it was noticed from observations that
in the plants where urea was used, the difference in root lengths in
successive days more compared to that of control. In other words
the length of root in successive days increased.
 CONCLUSION

Fertilizers like urea when used in the required concentrations

increase the growth rate and are very useful as far as productivity is
concerned.
However, when they are used in excess, may harm the plants in
many ways. Additionally they can have harmful effects to the
environment as well. Most of the chemical fertilizers are discharged
to natural water reservoirs and pollute the water. This can prove
fatal on drinking. Also the qualities of foods are affected due to
chemical fertilizers. Hence organic farming should be encouraged for
a better yield as well to ensure our healthy lifestyle and
environment.