The Effect of Plant Hormones on Barley Height in Unfavorable Soil Profiles

     The experiment I ran was successful because I was able to address the problem and analyze how the data supported my hypothesis. The use of butyric acid did help plants grow taller in some of the unfavorable soil profiles. The Haiti and Kenya profiles showed good growth rate, while barley in the Australian soil profileactually ended up losing height through shriveling and weakness in the stem. These observations, backed up with data, partially support my hypothesis, because the application of butyric acid made barley plants in the Haiti and Kenya soil profiles grow taller than those in the Control soil profile, but the Australia soil profile made its barley weak and didn't allow for any growth, actually hurting the barley plants. The independent variable of the varying soil profiles affected the height of the barley plants because the application of butyric acid had to promote the growth of nitrogen fixing bacteria. In soil profiles that couldn't retain the nutrients produced or allowed for the germination of too many seeds (Asutralia and Control, respectively), they didn't allow barley to grow as tall. IN soil profiles that could recycle nutrients and whose soil was water absorbebt, the butyric acid allowed those plants to grow faster and taller. In some dishes, mainly the control groups, the source of error was a prevalence of many gerimanted seeds competing for butyric acid, water, sunlight, and other resources. Since i didn't take the amount of germinated seeds into account, it looks like the control group was not as favorable as the Haiti and Kenya soil profiles. But, if there was more space, the barley probably would've grown to a height on par with the other soil profiles (except Australia). As a continuation, I would test the effect of butyric acid in the control soil against a control group without butyric acid, so I could compare how helpful the butyric acid application is. I would also record more data to see if the long term application of butyric acid can actually hurt barley over time. The real world application of this experiment is detailed in the research question tab, but it basically says that if butyric acid can help crops grow, not just barley, than butyric acid can be distributed worldwide and used in unfavorable soil profiles to help crops grow. This would increase global food production, and end starvation in countries whose governments cannot afford to buy food from wealthier countries.