Corn is America’s number one crop. It grows on every continent except Antarctica. In the Midwest corn is one of the leading crops grown. With our project we plan to show the growth rates of different types of corn plants in multiple types of soil. We plan to use super sweet, sweet, and starch corn with polluted, fertilized (added nutrients), sandy, and regular soil. With our studies we could find more ways to make corn more useful in an environmental friendly way. It could lower the cost of gas if our experiment were to help with the ethanol theory.

Literature Review Corn was originally grown in Mexico, then other countries found it and everyone began growing it as one of their main crops. Corn can be grown in most mild or tropical regions. Typically corn is planted in soil that has residue from the nutrients found in soybeans. The United States produces about two-fifths of the worlds corn. In Mexico they are working on a genetically altered corn that has more quality protein in the corn. For the third world countries who depend on corn in almost every meal. In most cases, the commercial corn is made by scientist, so that they grow more efficiently. For example, in most crops in the united states they range from seven to nine feet, while in other third world countries it will maybe get as tall as three feet. Most corn ears are about nine inches long. And each ear has about eighteen rows of kernels of corn on it. After about three days the corn goes through their physical change. After about five days the corn gets its first leaves. Six weeks later the husks which are still not visible begin to go through their transformation, becoming bigger as the corn itself is already a few feet high. Depending on your corn, it will be ready to harvest in nine to eleven weeks after sprouted.

If we put three different types of corn in four different types of soil then we believe the corn will grow in different rates, corresponding to which type of soil and corn it is. This is because the different soils have different amounts of nutrients needed in the growing of corn.

UNITS Graduated cylindermL Rulercm 12 two liter clear soda bottlesliters 12 seeds of each type of corn 4 types of soilcups Scissors Plant lamps

STEPS 1 – Rinse out 2 liter bottles 2 – Cut 2 liter bottles 3 – Poke holes with a flathead screwdriver into the bottom of the bottles, in each hump formed 4 – Fill with corresponding soil 5 – Label bottles by type of soil and corn that will be in them 6 – Poke holes about ¼ in. into soil and place in the seeds 7 – Make observations of the growth of the seeds and collect the data through the course of the experiment

Independent Variables 1. Three types of corn being planted: field corn, sweet, and genetically altered sweet corn. 2. Four types of soil: Sandy, regular, polluted, and fertilized. Dependant Variables 1. Height of plant in centimeters Controls 1. Amount of water given, type of container, type of water, amount of light 2. Starch corn in regular soil

Could use soil that has the residue from soy beans Do pH testing next time Use less vinegar for the experiment and mix it with the water be for we pour the water in to make a acid rain effect We should most likely have a more full amount of data Shouldn’t have cucumber beetles near by

OBSERVATIONS ∙Germination~ Starch corn: 7 Sweet corn: 12 Super sweet corn: 4

OBSERVATIONS (cont’d)

Day 7-9~ No data accounted for because of the absent leave of most of our group. This could be a change made to the project if we were to repeat it.

OBSERVATIONS (cont’d) ∙Day 10~ Polluted: Starch corn- 0cm, 0cm, 0cm Sweet corn- 0cm, 0cm, 0cm Super sweet corn: 0cm, 0cm, 0cm Regular: Starch corn- 29cm, 25 7/10cm, 28 1/10cm Sweet corn- 16 3/10cm, 18cm, 29 2/10cm Super sweet corn: 21 1/10cm Sandy: Starch corn- 30 4/10cm, 27cm, 18cm Sweet corn- 4 1/10cm, 16cm, 15cm Super sweet corn: 22 8/10cm, 8 6/10cm Fertilized: Starch corn- 38cm, Sweet corn- 34cm, 27cm, 28cm Super sweet corn: 23cm

Data/Analysis The data showed that the corn in the fertilized soil did grow taller faster while the shortest was the sand soil. In turn the corn in the polluted soil never showed any advances in growth. For most of the time, the average height between the different types of corn were close.

Conclusion In conclusion all corn will grow in most types of soil but the evidence shows that the fertilized soil paired with the starch corn had the highest growth. As of this right now part of our hypothesis seems to be proving right dealing with the growth of the starch corn paired with the regular soil, but we will see the affects that the soil will have on the growth rates. But in our hypothesis we have noticed the average highest height would go to the sweet corn in the fertilized soil but just by the actual highest in general it would be the starch corn in the fertilized soil.

Salvador, Ricardo J. "Corn." World Book Online Reference Center [Place of access.] 11 July Bergstresser, Paul R. "Corn." World Book Online Reference Center [Place of access.] 11 July 2008.

A big thanks to… Mrs. Hart Mrs. Morgan Mrs. Scott & everyone else for listening!