A team of six students from Jayshree Periwal International School in India won the Best in World Award for their ‘exceptionally professional’ investigation into natural weed management.
Spurred into action by growing global concerns about synthetic agricultural chemicals, Lavanya Sharma, Tanishka Goyal, Ritika Mittal, Yashkit Jain, Aarna Arora and Aishna Goyal named their study ‘Green Guard – War on Weeds’.
The wild sunflower (Helianthus annuus) produces many different allelochemicals, and so the team investigated the extent to which it could inhibit seed germination of a common weed (Chenopodium album) compared to Atrazine, a widely-used herbicide. They tested a range of variants and different concentrations of the natural and synthetic chemicals on seed germination.
The students found the results of the study convincing – the allelochemicals obtained from the sunflower leaf extract significantly inhibited the germination of the weed.
Lavanya said: 'It was a great learning experience in a group, dividing tasks, listing and procuring resources, setting up the lab, controlling variables, collecting data, processing data and graphical presentations, including error bars, trend lines. These all helped me in becoming knowledgeable and improving my analytical skills.'
The judges said: 'This was an exceptionally professional submission. The conclusion was noted for how well it explained that allelochemicals work and why they are more sustainable and better for the environment than the chemicals that are currently widely used.'
The Best in World is chosen from all the Best in Region Winners. This team were the Best in Region for South Asia in the second period of the competition.