Wisconsin Fast Plants have commonly been used in educational and research laboratories for decades and are currently used at Medicine Hat College mainly for teaching purposes. Here, we report how first-year students design and run their own Plant Lab Project under their instructor???s supervision, which culminates with the production of an article-style laboratory report. We also document an original investigation that stemmed from one of the Plant Lab projects from 2024. In that project, the effects of creatine monohydrate on the growth and yield of Wisconsin Fast Plants were studied. Plants were assigned to treatments with various creatine concentrations and a control. Phenotypical and survival measurements were recorded for six weeks after germination, and biomass and chemical analyses (of plant and soil samples) were performed at the end of the experiment. Plants were taller and had higher survival in the lower creatine concentrations and control treatments, and all creatine-fertilized plants appear to have a different metal composition than the controls. Additionally, excess creatine seemed to have accumulated in the soil of the treatments with the highest creatine concentrations. There appears to be no value in the use of creatine as a plant fertilizer.
Keywords: Wisconsin Fast Plants, Plant Lab Project, creatine monohydrate, plant growth, chemical analyses, first-year biology course
University of Manitoba (2025)
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