Light Intensity Lab Report

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Aim: Numerous environmental variables influence plant growth. The aim of this experiment is to determine the optimum atmosphere that a plant has to live in, in order to allow ideal growth. Background information: Plant Growth and distribution are limited by the environment. If any one envrionmental factor is less than ideal it will become a limiting factor in plant growth. Limiting factors are also responsible for the geography of plant distribution. Most plant problems are affected by environmental stress directly or indirectly. Therefor e the environmental factors are very vital to be controlled in order to attain ideal growth of plants. Light: Light has three principal characteristics affecting plant growth: quantity, quality, and duration. Quantity refers to the intensity or concentration of sunlight and varies with the season of the year. Quality refers to the color or wavelength reaching the plant surface. Sunlight can be broken up by a prism into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Duration refers to the amount of time a plant is exposed to sunlight or the lack of it’s designated photoperiod. Temperature: Temperature affects the productivity and growth of a plant, depending upon whether the plant is a warm- or cool-season crop. If temperatures are high and day length is long, cool-season crops such as spinach will flower. Temperatures that are too low for a warm-season crop such as tomato will prevent fruit set. Adverse temperatures also cause stunted growth and poor quality vegetable production. Water Watering plants correctly is vital for developing and maintaining a landscape planting. Lack of water can cause a plant to wilt and ultimately dry up and die. Excessive water can cause roots to die and rot, in which case the plant wilts because it is oxygen starved, and consequently is unable to take up moisture.
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