Exploring The Effect of Fertilizer in The Asexual Propagation of Red Onion Cuttings Using Water as a Growing Medium

Abstract

The increase of deforestation and the decline of soil fertility rates around the world have reduced the availability of red onions, a staple in various diets and cultures globally. Our motivation for this study is to find an alternative growing medium that does not require agricultural land and nutrient-rich soil which may combat these concerns at a household level. Our study aims to explore water as an alternative growing medium and to understand the effect of adding Miracle-Gro fertilizer to water in the asexual propagation of red onion cuttings. In our experiment, red onion cuttings were suspended in tap water with and without fertilizer and observed for sprout growth over a period of three weeks. We performed a one-way ANOVA test and obtained a pvalue of 0.03 using a significance level of 0.05. We found that tap water with 50% of the recommended amount of fertilizer was the most effective growing medium and therefore, it may act as an alternative growing medium to soil. Additionally, this alternative growing medium may allow individuals to decrease food waste by using their food scraps to propagate red onions at home.