ABSTRACT:

In this experiment, fifty rye grass seeds were planted in one pot, and fifty more were planted in another identical pot. After germination, one group of seeds was watered with beer (Bud Light), and the other was watered with water. After ten days of the separate treatments, the individual blades of grass were uprooted and measured with a thirty millimeter ruler. After evaluating the results using the Mann-Whitney U, I failed to reject the null hypothesis.

I hypothesized that beer would inhibit rye grass growth. So the experimental hypothesis for this particular experiment is that the rye grass seeds treated with beer will not have as much growth as the seeds treated with water.

Subjects: One hundred rye grass seeds with the lot number TB 2083. Apparatus: Two identical small, round plastic pots were used. Also used were a plastic grocery bag and a thirty millimeter ruler.

Procedures: Fifty seeds were planted in one pot and the fifty remaining seeds were planted in the other pot. Both pots were watered with tap water and placed in a plastic grocery that was then sealed. After germination, both pots were removed and watered again with tap water. Then one pot was marked and from that point on was watered with beer while the other continued to be watered with tap water. The groups of grass were watered at the same time and the same amount of each liquid was used. After ten days of treatment, each blade of grass was removed and measured with a thirty millimeter ruler. The measurements were recorded and the Mann-Whitney U was used to evaluate the results.

Out of the fifty seeds that were planted in each pot, forty-two of the seeds treated with beer grew and thirty-seven of the seeds treated with tap water grew. The Mann-Whitney U was used to evaluate the measurements. The experimental hypothesis was directional and two-tailed. So the larger of the two calculated U's was the value for U obtained which was 852. That value was plugged into the z score equation used evaluate Mann-Whitney U results for more than twenty subjects. The result of those calculations was .2296 which is greater than .05 so I failed to reject the null hypothesis.

I hypothesized that beer would affect rye grass growth in a negative way. And actually at first it seemed to appear as though it had a positive affect on the growth, but after doing all of the calculations, it was shown that it actually had no affect on the growth of rye grass because the results were due to chance (the null hypothesis was not rejected).