Jamshedpur: The next time you spit gutkha on the road, do remember that you are indirectly killing a plant.
Three Class XII biotechnology students of ADLS Sunshine School in Kadma - K. Sai Bhaskar, Md Abubakar and Shagufta Yasmin - carried out a research on the morphological effects of gutkha on the crop plants.
"The purpose of the study was to make people aware about the adverse effects of gutkha in changing the morphology of plants. We aim to safeguard the human population from such deadly habits that effect soil, plants and indirectly humans," said biotechnology teacher Santosh Kumar under whose guidance the research was conducted.
The students took four sets of four seedlings - wheat, rice, gram and barley - and observed their growth pattern for a week upon mixing gutkha with the soil.
"We increased the quantity of gutkha consecutively in all the three sets of seedlings while one set was left untouched. We found their leaves started turning yellow and dry, growth was stunted with reduced water intake capacity. Except the one set of seedling that was not mixed with gutkha, all others had starting to wilt," said Bhaskar.
The school has also decided to publish the results of their research in a journal to spread awareness among other schoolchildren. Students now plan to conduct a similar test with cigarettes and want to publish their observation on social media to reach out to a larger audience.
"We wanted to show that even if you are not consuming gutkha or cigarette directly, the products do have a harmful effect on our surroundings. Spitting gutkha or smoking contaminates the soil and plant so we can well imagine its adverse impact on humans," said Kumar.
The school has also decided to stress on research-based learning rather than being solely dependent on textbooks.
"Bio-technology is a research-oriented subject. It's all about innovation, invention and learning by carrying out experiments. This was a first-of-its-kind research carried out by the students. I also plan to let students carry out researches in other subjects like mathematics and science," said principal Indrani Singh.
