By: Emma Fontaine and Siri Erickson

1
Comparison of Different Wastes as Fertilizer

• By Emma Fontaine and Siri Erickson

Conclusions
Results
The hypothesis that chicken manure would work
best was not correct, although it did produce the
second highest plant growth average. The results
suggest that dog manure assisted in growing
plants the best. The overall height for dog
manure was 360 millimeters. Dog manure could
have yielded the tallest plants because it
possibly had a higher nitrogen content, which
according to a study by Mahdi M. Al-Kaisi and
Xinhua Yin showed that nitrogen is an important
component for growing healthy plants. The plants
with dog manure may have grown tallest not
because of manure at all. Those seeds, in
general, may have just been more prone to grow
taller because not all seeds are the same, even
if they are the same brand. The plants that did
not grow were discounted from the averages
because it was believed that it was not because
of the manure, but this is just a hypothesized
guess. The manure could of influenced the growth
those plants. If the plants that didnt grow
were added into the averages, it would change the
whole way the data was interpreted. Donkey
manure would have the highest overall plant
height average. T-tests were done comparing every
combination of manure. If the t-tests are .05 or
below, it means that the data is 95
statistically significant. None of our t-test
data combinations were .05 or lower, but many
came close. The t-test comparing dog and llama
manure was .0594, which is very close to .05.
Even though none of the t-tests were
statistically significant, it does not mean that
the data is not important. There was a difference
in the heights of the plants, which shows that
different manure types do influence the growth of
plants.
Plants that did not grow represented zeros in the
raw data. These zeros were discounted from the
data because it was thought that the seeds were
defective and it was not influenced by the type
of manure. Figure 1 shows the overall average
plant height. Dog manure had the highest
average. Chart 1 shows the plant height and
number of leaves averages.
Objective Background
The goal of this project was to determine which
waste, out of seven tested, would best fertilize
pea plants based on height and number of leaves.
The control for this experiment was regular soil.
This project was done off of past studies
involving waste used as a fertilizer. It is known
that waste helps plants grow, but this study is
to determine if a certain waste works better.
The scientific name for pea plants is Pisum
sativum. Based on the fact that many studies
have been conducted involving chicken manure, it
is hypothesized that chicken manure will provide
optimum pea plant growth. There have been many
studies done involving how manure assists plant
growth, but this experiment will show if there is
a variance between different manures when
involved in growing pea plants. Out of all the
articles that were found, only two types of
manure were used chicken and swine. There is
such a variety of animal waste and there could be
a better type that has not been tested. This is
the reason for this experimental study in which
varieties of animal waste are tested.
Table of Averages (Chart 1)
Methods
This experiment was conducted in greenhouse for
5 weeks. 3 seeds were planted for each type of
manure, including 3 for control, and all 24
planters were placed under a full spectrum plant
light. The planters were labeled according to
manure and trial, such as Sheep 1. The 7
necessary manures were collected and 1 cup of
each manure was mixed with 1 cup of water. Then
one third of this mixture was mixed with 2 cups
of soil already in the planter. In the control
planters were only 2 cups of soil. Seeds were
planted 4 inches down into the center of each
planter. The plants were watered every day, with
¼ cup of water. Every few days, not including
the 1st week, each plants height and number of
leaves were measured and they were all shifted so
that they had equal time under the light.