Exploring the Effects of Salt and Banana Peels on Green Onion Growth

Abstract

Farming is everyone's business, not only because it supplies our food but because it is the root of so many industries and a large portion of Canada's trade and commerce. Our experiment aims to explore the growth rate of produce in both fertilized and salinated environments. Over a 15-day experimental period, we monitored the biomass of green onions grown in a fertilized environment using bananas and a highsalt environment, with regular water as a control. We hypothesize that if salt impairs plant development, then green onion bulbs grown in a high-salinity environment will have a lower biomass than onions exposed to no treatment. Additionally, we hypothesize that if banana peels are an effective fertilizer, then green onion bulbs grown in a fertilized environment will have a greater biomass than onions exposed to no treatment. An analysis of variance test (ANOVA) with Tukey's post hoc test was used to identify a statistically significant result. Our results suggest that there is a significant　difference between the growth of green onions exposed to salt and the control group. However, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that there is no difference between green onion growth in the control group and when exposed to banana peel fertilizer. As such, we can conclude that the salt impaired growth and extend the evidence proving salt is a factor of concern when looking to increase crop yield.