PHINMA- CAGAYAN DE ORO COLLEGE

BASIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

SCIENCE 9
MAJOR PERFORMANCE TASK

ORGANIC FERTILIZERS VERSUS INORGANIC FERTILIZERS

A. INTRODUCTION
The function of the Introduction is to:
 provide readers with the background information needed to understand your study, and the reasons why you
conducted your experiments. The Introduction should answer the question: "What was I studying? Why was it an
important question? What did we know about it before I did this study? How will this study advance our knowledge?
 state the purpose of the work in the form of the hypothesis, question, or problem you investigated. Example: , if a
drug is known to work well in one population, but has never been tested in a different population, the purpose of a
study could be to test the efficacy and safety of the drug in the second population.
 briefly explain your rationale and approach and, whenever possible, the possible outcomes your study can reveal.
 final thing to include at the end of your Introduction is a clear and exact statement of your study aims. You might
also explain in a sentence or two how you conducted the study.

EXAMPLE:
Plants grow and develop well if the soil is fertile. Fertile means the soil has rich humus content. Humus is an
organic fertilizer. It comes from decaying organic matter. One sign that the soil is rich with humus is that it is dark in color.
Thus, humus is a natural fertilizer. It contains all the minerals and other materials needed for plant growth and development.
Planting crops several times on the same area depletes the soil of its natural minerals. So farmers do not rely so
much on natural fertilizers like humus, to increase the yield they add chemical elements that are found in commercial
fertilizers. Commercial fertilizers are inorganic fertilizers. They did not come from living things, they are synthetically
manufactured.
In this investigation, you will compare the effect of an organic fertilizer with an inorganic fertilizer on plants to find
out which of the two will be cost effective in terms of better plant productivity. You will need about five weeks for the
preparation and plant growth experimentations.

B. OBJECTIVES

CONSTRCUT YOUR OWN OBJECTIVES OF THE ACTIVITY

EXAMPLE:
 Plant pechay and expose them to organic and inorganic fertilizers.
 Prepare the fertilizers that will be used in the experiment.

C. MATERIALS
-2 pots -garden tools -market
-organic fertilizer (see procedure A) -pechay seed -garden soil
-any branded commercial fertilizer -water sprinkler -measuring scale

Safety precaution: put on your hand gloves and wear your lab gown when performing the activity and during
observation period.

D. PROCEDURE
A. Preparation of the organic fertilizer
Organic fertilizer usually comes from materials that are either plant or animal in origin – livestock manure, compost,
crop residues, household waste, and plant litter.
In plastic pail, mix equal amounts of household wastes, livestock manure, plant litter, and water. Using a shovel, stir
the mixture. This will be your organic fertilizer.

B. Preparation of the experimental set up

1. Mark the two pots A and B. Pot A will contain the soil with organic fertilizer and Pot B will contain the soil with the
commercial fertilizer.
2. Measure equal amounts of garden soil. The quantity of the soil should be enough to fill 2/3 of each pot.
3. For Pot A, thoroughly mix the garden soil with the organic fertilizer by hand-hoeing. The quantity of the organic fertilizer
should be ½ the quantity of the soil placed on the pot.
4. For Pot B, thoroughly mix the soil with inorganic fertilizer also by hand-hoeing. Read the instructions on the label of the
commercial fertilizer for the recommended rates to avoid over or under fertilization.
5. In each pot, put about 15 pechay seeds evenly distributed on the surface of the garden soil and partially cover them with
small amounts of soil.
6. Expose the two setups to open light. Water them regularly. Watch out for some fungal growth. If seed is infected by
molds, remove and discard the seed. Record the number of seeds discarded (if any).
7. Observe the set ups for five weeks.

C. Gathering Data
1. After five weeks, count the number of plants in each set-up that grew.
2. Uproot the plant and measure the following:
a. the mass of each plant using the platform balance. Compute the average mass.
b. the length (in cm) of each pechay plant.
c. the size (in cm) of the leaves (length and width) of each plant. Compute the average size.
d. the extensiveness of the root ( width spread). Compute the average width spread.
3. Record your data on a table similar to the one given below.

E. RESULT
TABLE 1. Weekly Observations of the Setups
OBSERVATIONS
WEEKS
POT A POT B
WEEK 1 (July 8-14)

WEEK 2( July 15-21)

WEEK 3(July 22-28)

WEEK 4(July 29-August 5)

TABLE 2. Measurements of the Different Variables

OBSERVATIONS
WEEKS
POT A POT B
1. number of plants grow

2. average mass of the plant

3. average length of the plants

4. average size of the leaves

5. width spread
F. DISCUSSION

 The function of the Discussion is to interpret your results in light of what was already known about the subject of the
investigation, and to explain our new understanding of the problem after taking your results into consideration.
 The Discussion will always connect to the Introduction by way of the question(s) or hypotheses you posed and the
literature you cited, but it does not simply repeat or rearrange the Introduction. Instead, it tells how your study has
moved us forward from the place you left us at the end of the Introduction.

G. CONCLUSION
 Discuss your conclusions in order of most to least important.
 Compare your results with those from other studies: Are they consistent? If not, discuss possible reasons for the
difference.
 Mention any inconclusive results and explain them as best you can. You may suggest additional experiments
needed to clarify your results.
 Briefly describe the limitations of your study to show reviewers and readers that you have considered your
experiment’s weaknesses. Many researchers are hesitant to do this as they feel it highlights the weaknesses in
their research to the editor and reviewer. However doing this actually makes a positive impression of your paper as
it makes it clear that you have an in depth understanding of your topic and can think objectively of your research.
 Discuss what your results may mean for researchers in the same field as you, researchers in other fields, and the
general public. How could your findings be applied?
 State how your results extend the findings of previous studies.

NOTE: Insert pictures as proof that you have an experimental set-up. Take pictures of how you perform procedures
A, B, and C. Take pictures also of your set-up weekly as evidence of your observations.