Music helps plants grow, new study suggests

Playing a monotonous sound stimulates the activity of a microscopic fungus in the subsoil that contributes to plant growthsuggests a study published Wednesday, raising the possibility that playing music could be beneficial for crops and gardens.

Whether or not music helps plants grow has long been a topic of scientific debate.

The American television show Mythbusters even tried it. Plants exposed to death metal and classical music grew slightly better than those left silent.but the results were considered inconclusive.

However, as the plant world faces a host of human-caused challenges – including erosion, deforestation, pollution and a growing extinction crisis – there are growing fears for the future of biodiversity and crops in the world. planet.

white noise

According to the new study, published in the journal Biology Letters, “the role of acoustic stimulation in the recovery of ecosystems and sustainable food systems remains unexplored.”

Building on previous work that exposed E.coli bacteria to sound waves, A team of Australian researchers decided to evaluate the effect that sound has on the growth rate and spore production of the fungus Trichoderma harzianum.

This mushroom is often used in organic farming for its ability to protect plants from pathogens, improve nutrients in the soil and promote growth.

The researchers built small sound booths where they introduced laboratory plates full of fungi.

Instead of pop music, they played “Tinnitus Flosser Masker at 8 kHz,” audio taken from one of the many white noise videos on YouTube, which are intended to relieve tinnitus or help babies sleep.

“It’s like the sound of an old radio when you changed channels,” Jake Robinson, lead author of the study from Flinders University, told AFP.

“We chose this monotone tone for controlled experimental reasons, but it could be that a more diverse or natural soundscape is better,” he added.

sound garden

The plates were exposed to this sound at a level of 80 decibels for half an hour a day.

After five days, growth and spore production were greater in fungi that were exposed to soundcompared to those who were silent.

Although far from definitive, the researchers suggested some possible reasons for this phenomenon.

The acoustic wave could be converted into an electrical charge that stimulates the fungus, known as the piezoelectric effect.

Another theory involves small receptors on the membranes of fungi called mechanoreceptors.

These mechanoreceptors are comparable to the thousands found in human skin, and they play an essential role in our sense of touch, responding to pressure or vibration.

“It could be that sound waves stimulate these mechanoreceptors in fungi, triggering a cascade of biochemical events that turn genes on or off, such as those responsible for growth,” Robinson explained.

“Our preliminary research suggests that fungi respond to sound, but we don’t yet know if this benefits plants. So this is the next step,” he added.

“Can we influence microbial communities in the soil or in plants as a whole? Accelerate the soil restoration process by stimulating it with natural soundscapes? What impact could this have on soil fauna?” this scientist asks.