The effect of Potassium ion amount, Light time

exposure and pH concentration on the

regrowth of Green Onion
GROUP 9
Nguyễn Minh Thư BTFTIU14090
Ngô Thị Thanh Thúy BTBTIU14230
Lê Phạm Nguyệt Thương BTBTIU15052
Nguyễn Lâm Thương BTBTIU15084
Trần Thụy Thủy Tiên BTBTIU15158
 INTRODUCTION
• Onions and related species have been widely used from ancient times
in many parts of the world as flavoring vegetables as well as
traditional and folk medicine with a wide range of health benefits.
• Concerns regarding food security, the need to increase production
without environmental damage and human health influence.
• We think about doing small experiment that everyone can do it at
home but can gain high production.

 Because of three reasons above, this project aimed to choose

regrowing green onion.
 INTRODUCTION
• Potassium is involved in the production and transport of carbohydrates
and sugars to the bulb; enzyme activation; and synthesis of proteins.
There is no clear amount of Potassium should be supplied to get good
yield. This experiment amount of Potassium are applied at 3 levels:
0.0006%, 0,73%, 0,8%
• pH will affect the activity of all the enzymes in the onion plants,
therefore affect on onion growth. Onion have been already suggested
the living condition, which is acidic. The effects of pH on mung bean
germination will be reviewed by testing three pH environments: acidic,
neutral and basic.
 INTRODUCTION
• Light affects the growth of a plant by supplying energy for plant
through photosynthesis.
• This experiment will shading to about three-fourth of full daylight to
know determine how light time exposure affect on onion yield by
applying three levels of light time exposure: ¾, ½, ¼ of full daylight.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
1/ Onion materials.
The green onion bundle were bought in 20 April, 2018 from Ba
Chieu market in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Each of
onion plant was cleaned and 5cm of the onion bottom with all roots
intact was chopped out then stored in dry place at room temperature
for further use.
2/ Effect of Potassium ion amount on onion growth
The influence of Potassium ion amount was studied by putting
prepared onion bottom in water (assuming 0,0006% of K in water), 1kg
of Tribat nutrient soil (0,73% of K), 1kg of Tribat nutrient soil adding 70g
of KCl (assuming 0,8% of K).
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
3/ Effect of pH on onion growth.
The effect of pH on onion growth was determined by placing prepared onion
bottom in water and soil.
Water: one group with 20mL of tap water (assuming pH=6.5)
one group with 20mL of tap water with of Ca(OH)2 (assuming pH=7.0)
one group with 20mL of tap water with 5mL of vinegar (assuming pH=5)
Soil: one group with only 1kg of Tribat soil (pH=6.5)
one group with 1kg of Tribat soil and 2g of Ca(OH)2 ( assuming pH=7.0)
one group with 1kg of Tribat soil and 5mL of vinegar (assuming pH=5.0)
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
4/ Effect of light time exposure on onion growth.
The effect of light on germination was studied by exposing onion plants in
three different time range, which were 3hours, 6hours, 9hours of daylight
started from 7:00am then keep the plants in shadow.
5/ Data analysis
The average of leaves started from the tip of cut bottom were obtained.
Depending on normality test and f-test were performed for each treatment
then one-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test would be used for analysis of
variance by Excel 2016. The response surface methodology (RSM) was
conducted by Excel 2016 and OriginPro 8
 RESULTS
1/ Effect of Potassium ion amount on onion growth
The data was normal distributed with equal variances  One-way ANOVA was applied to
study about differences in Potassium ion amount.
H0 : The change in the amount of used K+ has no effect on growth of onions
Ha : The change in the amount of used K+ concentration has effect on onion's growth
- F < F crit and moreover, the p value was 1,84E-12 which is smaller than 0.05 (p critical).
- Therefore, the null hypothesis was not accepted. The conclusion is that K+ concentration
has effect on onion's growth.

ANOVA
Source of Variation SS df MS F P-value F crit
Between Groups 446,2945062 2 223,1473 38,97403 1,84E-12 3,113792
Within Groups 446,5918519 78 5,725537

Total 892,886358 80
 RESULTS
2/ Effect of pH on onion growth
The data was normal distributed with unequal variances  Kruskal-Wallis test was applied
to study about differences in pH.
H0 : pH has no effect on growth of onions
Ha : pH has effect on growth of onions
- F < F crit and moreover, the p value was 1,84E-12 which is smaller than 0.05 (p critical).
- Therefore, the null hypothesis was not accepted. The conclusion is that therefore, pH
change affects the growth of onions
pH 5 6,5 7
nj 27 27 27
c 3
T 312,9 323,85 354,55
T 2 /n 3626,163 3884,400833 4655,767
ΣT 2 /n 12166,33093
K score -224,0192757
χ 2 critical 5,991464547
 RESULTS
3/ Effect of light time exposure on onion growth
The data was normal distributed with unequal variances  Kruskal-Wallis test was applied
to study about differences in light time exposure.
H0 : light time exposure has no effect on growth of onions
Ha : light time exposure has effect on onion's growth
- F < F crit and moreover, the p value was 1,84E-12 which is smaller than 0.05 (p critical).
- Therefore, the null hypothesis was not accepted. The conclusion is that therefore, light
time exposure change affects the growth of onions
Exposed time 3h 6h 9h
nj 27 27 27
c 3
T 268,25 357,3 365,75
2
T /n 2665,113 4728,27 4954,558
ΣT 2 /n 12347,9413
K score -223,691163
χ 2 critical 5,991464547
 Amount of K+ pH Time Lengths of leaves
1 0.0006 5 6 15
2 0.8 5 6 13.25
3 0.0006 7 6 15.1
4 0.8 7 6 16.1
5 0.73 6.5 6 7.5
Table 1: The
6 0.73 5 3 9.2
results for the 7 0.73 6.5 9 6.9
regrowth of 8 0.73 7 3 7.35
green onion 9 0.73 7 9 9.9
experiment 10 0.73 6.5 6 7.5
11 0.0006 6.5 3 11.95
12 0.0006 6.5 9 17.1
13 0.8 6.5 3 9.1
14 0.8 5 9 13.1
15 0.73 6.5 6 7.5
 RESULTS
Response Surface Methodology (using Box-Behnken)

F(x1,x2,x3) = 𝒃𝟏𝟏𝒙𝟏𝟐 + 𝒃𝟐𝟐𝒙𝟐𝟐 + 𝒃𝟑𝟑𝒙𝟑𝟐 + 𝒃𝟏𝟐𝒙𝟏𝒙𝟐 + 𝒃𝟏𝟑𝒙𝟏𝒙𝟑 + 𝒃𝟐𝟑𝒙𝟐𝒙𝟑 + 𝒃𝟏𝒙𝟏 + 𝒃𝟐𝒙𝟐 + 𝒃𝟑𝒙𝟑

Using the OriginPro 8 software to find the coefficients (𝑏1, 𝑏2, …). The coefficients were as following:

b1 -78.15435 After that, the function y was differentiated with respect to

b2 -33.19794 each x, in turn, equated to zero and solved for the coordinates
b3 -0.51989
b11 100.84291
of the optimum point (by Solver of Excel):
b12 -0.19493 X1 = 0.419304
b13 -0.62553 X2 = 5.775888
b23 0.32977
X3 = 8.45284
b33 -0.0664
b22 2.63961 This point is called stationary point because it is the point at
c 111.17201 which the rate of change is zero.
 RESULTS
Response Surface Methodology (using Box-Behnken)
This stationary point might be minimum, maximum or saddle point, which was checked by using
second derivative test in 3-variable case. By computing the Hessian Matrix, 3 determinants
were calculated as:
D1 = 201.6858 > 0 D2 = 1064.706 > 0 D3 = -165.311 < 0
leading to the conclusion that it was the saddle point, which was neither maximum nor
minimum.
 Box-Behnken Design of Growing Green Onion
(0.73,7,9)

(0.0006,7,6)
(0.73,7,3) (0.8,7,6)

(0.0006,6.5,9)
(0.8,6.5,9)

(0.0006,6.5,3) (0.73,6.5,6) (0.8,6.5,3)

(0.0006,5,6) (0.73,5,9)
(0.8,5,6)

pH (x2) pH (x2) (0.73,5,3)

Time (x3)
Time (x3)

Amount of K+ (x1) Amount of K+ (x1)

 Conclusion
Based on this experiment, how Potassium amount, pH and light time exposure
effect on onion yield were studied further.
The saddle point calculated was within the range of the factors’ points (low point <
optimum point coordinate < high point): 0.0006% < 0.419304% < 0.8% ; 5 <
5.775888 < 7 ; 3hrs < 8.45284hrs < 9hrs. Therefore it can be assumed that the
saddle point’s location was inside the Box Behnken. The range chosen was proved
to be appropriate to find the saddle point, since the Box-Behnken was able to
include it.
The result indicated that the green onion growing process would have the average
efficiency when growing them with the soil contaning 0.42% K+ with the pH of 5.77
and expose them under the sun for nearly 8.5 hours.