The Effects of Commercial VS. Native Inoculum on Growth of Helianthus annuus and Ratibida columnifera

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the effects of commercial versus native inoculum on growth of Helianthus annuus and Ratibida columnifera. Specifically how it impacted the chlorophyll content and leaf number.  This was important to conduct to find if it is necessary for plants to have their native inoculum for optimum growth or if they can grow just as well, if not better with commercial inoculum. We set up four treatment methods that each had six replicates of Ratibida columnifera and six replicates of Helianthus annuus four a total of forty eight plants. The first treatment had the commercial inoculum present and non-sterilized prairie soil, the second had commercial inoculum present and sterilized prairie soil, the third had no inoculum present and non-sterilized prairie soil, and the fourth had no inoculum present and sterilized prairie soil. Each week we tracked the growth by leaf chlorophyll content using a SPAD meter and counting the number of leaves on each plant. At the end of the experiment period we analyzed the results using ANOVA and SPSS to determine the effect, if any the commercial inoculum and sterilized soil had on a plant's’ growth. For the most part our results showed no effect on the variables we tested. From this study we can conclude that if we want to continue to test our variable we would need to allow for a longer experiment period.