Stars and STEM Stories
Garlic and Gray Water -- A GLOBE Student Study
Students from the Al-Hawari bin Muhammad Al-Azdi School (Oman) recently took on a research project named "Studying the effect of garlic in treating harmful bacteria in gray water." This project had students study the effect of garlic plants in treating harmful bacteria found in gray water for use in irrigation of crops, by answering the following questions:
- What are the types of bacteria found in gray water?
- What effect do bacteria in gray water have on plants?
- How to eliminate bacteria chemically?
- How to eliminate bacteria by garlic plant?
The students worked toward a solution to this problem by formulating a plan to conduct research, using GLOBE Protocols, extracting the results, making recommendations and research reviews, collecting images, and completing the various tables and graphs.
After collecting the necessary data, they analyzed the data and arrived at the answers to the questions we asked at the beginning:
- Through the information collected, the students concluded that the most common types of bacteria found in gray water are E. coli and coliforms.
- It reduces soil fertility and burns the leaves, and it also transmits bacterial infections to the plant.
- They have found several ways to combat it through the use of chlorine and some types of alcohol.
- Grinding garlic, extracting garlic extract, and adding it to gray water helps eliminate these bacteria.
Images courtesy Ishaq bin Hamid Al Jabri, GLOBE Oman.
