Stars and STEM Stories
Can Lentil Germ-Produced Water Make Plants Grow?
Al-Thabiti School (Oman) students, Al-Safi Al-Yazidi and Maryam Al-Yazidi conducted a research project with the aim to find the perfect plant fertilizer. Natural organic food is available in our homes through recycling cooking waste, which can produce water as well. By soaking lentils and studying the water's effect as a liquid fertilizer on plant growth, the students could find their answer.
They planted two tomato plants in pots, one of which had added lentil water to the soil as fertilizer, and the other without the added lentil water. This fertilizer (lentil water) is fixed with the rest of the factors applied by using The GLOBE Program's Ground Cover Protocol.
They sent two samples (water and lentil water) to the College of Agriculture and Marine Sciences to determine the concentration of the elements inside. They found that the water contained major nutrients such as potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorus. They also conducted a comparison between two soil samples taken from agricultural land, one of which contained soaked lentils as a liquid fertilizer and the other without it and compared the characteristics of the two samples by applying the Soil Protocol (regarding acidity and soil cohesion).
The results of the research indicated that using lentil water as a liquid fertilizer has a positive effect on the growth of plants; the growth rate of tomato plants in soil fertilized with lentil water reached 3.5 cm. The stem was thicker, and its leaves were greener compared to its growth rate in the soil without this fertilizer (which reached 2 cm). Lentil water is also rich in macronutrients essential for plant growth compared to normal water, which lacks these elements. They found that the electrical conductivity of soil fertilized with lentil water is lower than that of pure soil. Its pH is also higher than that of pure soil, and the soil has become more cohesive due to the lentil water fertilizer.
Based on the research results, the students recommend the possibility of using lentil water as an organic fertilizer instead of using chemical fertilizers, as it has a positive effect on plant growth. It increases the length, thickness of the stem, and greenness of the leaves. It is also rich in potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, which are the major elements essential for plant growth.
Images courtesy Dr. Ishaq Al-Jabri, GLOBE Oman.