Overall Summary Group Jicama

CONCLUSIONS

   The germination rate of Jicama plants is different from each pot because watering schedule affect the soil moisture and the plants moisture. Besides, the amount of sunlight received by every plants in every pot is different due to the position where it is placed. The Jicama plants from pot 1 have deficiency in nitrogen and iron, while the plants from pot 4 have deficiency of manganese and potassium. Water, soil moisture, plant moisture and sunlight is not the only factors that affecting the growth of Jicama but also the soil texture. The growth of Jicama in every pot is different may due to the soil texture in every pot does not contain the same amount of organic compounds and also nutrients although the same type of soil is used to plant the Jicama. In conclusion, we can know that the soil texture of soil that we took near tasik FSSA is a sandy clay loam. It is a combination of 66.67% of sand, 11.11% of silt and 22.22% of clay. Furthermore, we also know that the soil moisture content is 29.37g. The soil moisture content does affect the Jicama growth because the percentage of sand is higher. Sand has a small surface area compare to silt and clay because sand has larger particles compare to slit and clay. This smaller surface area cannot allow sandy clay loam to hold a greater capacity of water. So low water holding capacity or also known as soil moisture affects Jicama growth. As a conclusion, our soil pH value that we had collected at near Tasik FSSA UMS is pH 6.34 (by pH meter) that slightly suitable for growing Jicama but would not be its optimum growth for further study. We hope that our project for planting Jicama would not have any major problem by the pH value of our soil as we have continued our project for further study. It can be concluded that this soil type –Soil near Tasik FSSA is not appropriate for the plantation of jicama according to the results of nutrient analysis. This is because only soil with low concentration of   nitrate, high concentration of phosphate and high concentration of sulphate are suitable for the plantation of jicama. For the growth of jicama, high level of phosphate is important as it controls flowering in plants while high concentration of sulphate is important for the formation of chlorophyll in jicama plant. In conclusion, the objectives of this analysis was achieved which is we can know the particle size distribution of the fine aggregates with the coarse and can determine the grain size distribution of soil sample. Our soil are sandy clay loam soil, it is as optimum soil condition as it need for the plant that needs a sandy loam texture of soil and it has the highest percent of mass retained in the forth sieve (125µm) which is 30.43% while it has the lowest percent in mass retained in the second sieve (below 63µm) which is 0.24%. Lastly, there are many types of heavy metal that can be found in the soil that we have used, one of them is Fe. This iron plays important role on the plantation especially to produce chlorophyll.

HEAVY METAL ANALYSIS

The heavy metal that can be found from the soil is Pb, As, As, Cd, Ni, Cu, Mn, Fe, Zn, Mg and Ca. But we determined that Fe has highest amount of heavy metal in sandy loam silt compare to others while Ni is the lowest. As, Cd and Cu has negative reading this means that this heavy metal is not being detected by the machine because below the detection reading and the solution is too dilute. The near Tasik FSSA soil  contained a lot of Fe. The role of Fe in plants is to produce chlorophyll, get oxygen and make the plants become green. So, the function of this iron is helping to carry important elements through a plant’s circulatory system. The effect of heavy metal toxicity on the growth plants varies is according to the particular heavy metal involved in the process. For metals such as Pb, Cd, and As they don’t play any beneficial role in plant growth. While, most of the reduction in growth parameters of plants growing on polluted soils can be attributed to reduced photosynthetic activities, plant mineral nutrition, and reduced activity of some enzymes. That why, some plants can’t grow well and the roots also been affected.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Question 1

Among five frequency of watering, which produce more root growth for Jicama plants?

From our observation, we can see that the plants in pot 4 have the most seedlings grow. Pot 4 Jicama plants have more roots grow compare to the other plants in other pot. Among five frequency of watering, pot 4 shows the best frequency of watering as it produce more roots to grow.

Question 2

How does moisture content of each type of watering frequency affect Jicama growth?

Moisture content of each type of watering frequency affects Jicama growth because the frequent or the more amount of water is received by the soil, hence the plants will be absorbing more water. Too much water content can make the Jicama growth slower. Jicama will grow faster and healthier with adequate amount of water, not too much and not too little.

Question 3

How does moisture affect number of nodules form on Jicama roots?

The higher the amount of water in the soil, the higher the moisture content. When the moisture content in high, the roots of Jicama will elongate more. The longer the roots means the more the Pseudomonas sp. and Agrobacterium sp. These bacteria are responsible for the growing of nodules on Jicama roots. The present of nodules will promote nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation will produce nitrogen compounds that help the Jicama plant to grow and compete with other plants. When the Jicama plant dies, the fixed nitrogen is released, making it available to other plants; this helps to fertilize the soil.

Question 4

What are the nutrient availability for Jicama growth from each soil texture?

Jicama plants will not grow well in the soil texture of sandy loam. Jicama grows better in the soil texture of sandy clay loam. This is because Jicama grows better in the pH between 6 to 7. This type of pH means there are many organic compounds or silt or clay content in the soil. Since the particles of sand are larger than silt and clay, hence sandy loam is not suitable soil texture for the growth of Jicama. In sandy clay loam, the pH is around 6 near to pH 7. In this pH, the nutrients that are available such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur. While sandy loam will usually has acidic pH, which the nutrients available are iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc. For Jicama plants, since it is a legumes, so it needs nitrogen nutrients from the soil to produce nitrogen through nitrogen fixation.
Question 5 

Is the soil contaminated with heavy metal?
Yes. The soil that we have used, the soil near Tasik FSSA contained a lot of iron heavy metal. Excessive iron can reduce the growth of plants due to photosynthetic activities, plant mineral nutrition, and reduced activity of some enzymes. The soil contaminated with iron has affect the roots of the plants in pot 3 making the plants infertile and having the most lowest germination rate.
Question 6
Which soil is more fertile to grow Jicama productively?
The type of soil more fertile to grow Jicama productively is sandy clay loam with pH 6.5