Question

Jesse is interested in testing whether virus X causes disease in tomato plants. Her experimental design is to infect tomato plants from the green house with virus X and monitor for disease symptoms after 3 days, 1 week and 2 weeks. As a control Jesse will also monitor the tomato plants in her home garden, which she did not infect with virus X, at 3 days, 1 week and 2 weeks. Is this an appropriate control sample for Jesse’s experiment? Why?

Answer 1

This does not look like a proper control sample for Jesse's experimental design.

First of all, we are talking about a plant virus interaction and the disease that is caused by the virus.

We know we need to maintain a suitable environment for this controlled experiment to take place. If we have taken a virus to infect a non-infected well-grown green house plant, then we should also take the control likewise.

In an experimental setup, control plays a major role, this is how we can collect the proper data to monitor the effect of the disease on an infected plant against a non-infected sample control.

Here Jesse's control plant has taken from her home garden, which is not a standard place to grow a plant that is taken for the experimental purpose. In a home garden, all the conditions are not well mentioned as well as monitored. When she takes the green-house pants for the viral infection, she has to see in the same condition, how a non-infected plant would appear.