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EFFECT OF MUSIC ON PLANT GROWTH

Maulik Gadani* and Darshi Meha


Biology Department, St. Xaviers College, Ahmedabad
*Author for correspondence mauli!gadani"yahoo.co.in
ABS#$AC#
%usic can greatly influence the gro&th of plants. 'n the present paper, the
effect of music &as studied on the gro&th of the selected plant ( %ung
)Phaseolus aureus* and it &as found that seed germination as &ell as gro&th
of the plant &as enhanced as compared to control set. #&o sets &ere selected
( one treated &ith piece of music and second set untreated i.e. control.
Amongst the t&o set, music treated plants sho&n better performance in
terms of the seed germination and gro&th of plant. +umber of seeds
germinated, root length, plant height, number of leaves, leaf si,e &as found
to be more for the plants sub-ected to music and less for the control set.
.ey&ords %usic #herapy, plant gro&th, seed germination
Inr!du"i!n#
A property of living things is that they respond to stimuli. /lants are comple0
multicellular organisms considered as sensitive as humans for initial assaying of effects
and testing ne& therapies )Benford, 12213 Dossey, 12243 .risten, 4556*. Sound is !no&n
to affect the gro&th of plants and plants respond to music the same as humans do. 7agdish
Chandra Bose made a number of pioneering discoveries in plant physiology. 8e used his
o&n invention, the cresco graph, to measure plant response to various stimuli, and
thereby scientifically proved parallelism bet&een animal and plant tissues.
%usic causes drastic changes in plants metabolism. /lants en-oy music, and they
respond to the different types of music and its &ave9length. %usic containing hardcore
vibrations could be devastating to plants
)http::&&&.eho&.com:members:ds;sherry1<<4<.html*. #here is a right and a &rong &ay
to play music to plants. =or e0ample, the volume should be ta!en into consideration and
also the type of music played eg. soft9melodious music or loud. Certain types of music
can &rec! havoc on plants. >ther types of music can ma!e your plants thrive. 8eavy
metal music should never be played around a plant. 't can have devastating effects. ?ven
played at a lo& volume, heavy metal music can be very damaging to a sensitive plant.
/lants are not fond of pop music. /lants sub-ected to roc! music become stunted. 'f they
are continually e0posed to roc! music for more than 42 days, they &ill eventually die on
the other hand classical or devotional music enhances the plant gro&th and increases
yield has been observed.
Country music is &ell9favored by plants. 'n recent e0periments that have been conducted,
country music has beat out classical music by a slight margin. Classical music has a
gentle vibration, and it@s easy on plants. 't is rela0ing and has no hard beat. #hey &ill
practically dance to it. #he foliage &ill point up&ards as if it is loo!ing up to the
heavens)http::&&&.eho&.com:members:ds;sherry1<<4<.html*.
Aiolin music significantly increases plant gro&th. >verall, the best options for a plant are
country, classical and violin music. 'f farmers and gardener !no& &hat type of music, if
any, helps plants gro& more Buic!ly, stronger, or more lush, it could affect the efficiency
of their farming techniBues. #his could result in a much more successful business for
farmers)http::&&&.eho&.com:members:ds;sherry1<<4<.html*.
8o&ever, the previous studies on plants using music and:or noise have been controversial
)Calston and Slayman, 45653 .lein and ?dsall, 45D<3 $etallac!, 456E3 $etallac! and
Broman, 456E3 #omp!ins and Bird, 456E3 Feinberger and Das, 45613 Feinberger and
Craefe, 456E3 Feinberger and %easures, 456G*. #hus, the present e0perimentation &as
done &ith the ob-ective to study the effect of music on the gro&th of the selected plant.
Maerials and Meh!ds
#he plant material used for the e0periment here is mung beans. #he mung bean is one of
many species recently moved from the genus Phaseolus to Vigna, and is still often seen
cited as Phaseolus aureus or Phaseolus radiatus. #hese variations of nomenclature have
been used regarding the same plant species. %ung beans are light yello& in color &hen
their s!ins are removed. %ung bean sprouts are germinated by leaving them &atered &ith
four hours of daytime light and spending the rest of the day in the dar!. %ung
bean starch, &hich is e0tracted from ground mung beans, is used to ma!e
transparent cellophane noodles.
Meh!d!l!$%#
H =irst t&o same si,ed pots)A,B* &ere ta!en in &hich mung seeds &ere gro&n.
H ?Bual number of seeds)12* &ere so&n in each pot and &ere so&n at the upper layer of
the soil.
H ?Bual amount of &ater &as poured in each pot.
H /laced under normal environmental conditions )e.g. light and temp.*.
H =irst pot)A* &as e0posed to music for 4 hour each day by !eeping them in a different
room.
H Second pot)B* &as placed under normal conditions and &as not given any music
considering it as control.
H After giving music to first pot)A* for a specific period of time)e.g. 4 hr.* it is placed
along &ith the control pot and given the normal conditions.
H #his e0periment &as carried out for 12 days and the follo&ing observations &ere made.
Resuls#
=ollo&ing table sho&s gro&th9data of Phaseolus aureus saplings after 12 days of gro&th
period
Set
+o.
#ype of
conditions
given
+umber of
seeds
germinated
/lant
height
in cm
+o. of
leaves
Ieaves
si,e in
cm
'nternode
elongation
in cm
Iength
of root
in cm
A %usic #reated 42 seeds 5.2cm J9< E.<cm 4.<cm J.2cm
B Control)Kntre
ated*
D seeds D.2cm 19E E.2cm 2.<cm 1.2cm
't &as observed that more number of seeds germinated in seeds treated &ith
music. 't &as higher as compared to control set.
#he height of the plant &as also found to be more as compared to the control.
#he number of leaves in the music treated plant differs largely than the untreated
plant. #he number of leaves &ere found to be least in control set.
#he leaves si,e although doesnt change much for both the sets but &ere found to
be better in music treated set as compared to the control set.
%usic treatment &as found to be more effective in case of internode elongation as
compared to control plant set.
$oot length &as also found to be best for music treated plants.
Dis"ussi!n#
#he above data indicates that overall plant gro&th &as better in plants e0posed to music
as compared to the control set.
Creath and Sch&art, )122J* have also reported significant effects of music on the
germination of seeds &hen compared to untreated control plants. Similarly, there also
have been other reports on the enhancement of physiological conditions of the plants as a
result of e0posure to sound and music. )Li et al., 122E3 Coglan, 455J*
8ence, it can be concluded that plants en-oy music and they have better effect &hen
e0posed to the appropriate style.
Re&eren"es #
Benford, % S )1221* 'mplications of plant genome research to alternative therapies A
case for radiogenic metabolism in humans. J. Theoretics J 494J.
Coglan, A. )455J* Cood vibrations give plants e0citations. New Scientist 4J1 42.
Creath, .. and C. ?. Sch&art, )122J* %easuring effects of music, noise and healing
energy using a seed germination bioassay. J. of Alt. and Comp. Med. 1!1" # 11$%1&&.

Dossey, I. )1224* Being green >n the relationships bet&een people and plants. Altern
Ther 6 4194D, 4E194J2.
Calston, A. F. and C I. Slayman )4565* #he not9so9secret life of plants. Am. Sci. D6
EE69EJJ.
.lein, $. %. and /. C. ?dsall )45D<* >n the reported effects of sound on the gro&th of
plants. 'ioscience 4< 41<941D.
.risten, K. )4556* Kse of higher plants as screens for to0icity assessment. To(icol )n
Vitro 44 4G49454.
$etallac!, D. )456E* #he sound of %usic and /lants. Santa %onica, CA De Aorss M
Co.
$etallac!, D. and =. Broman )456E* $esponse of gro&ing plants to the manipulation of
their environment. 'n #he Sound of %usic and /lants. Santa %onica, CA De Aorss M
Co. G195J.
#ele&e!i, =. F. )122D* N A Knified 8ypothesis of %echanoperception in /lantsN
American 7ournal of Botany, Aolume 5E )>ctober* pages 4JDD94J6D.
#omp!ins, /. and C. Bird )456E* #he harmonic life of plants. 'n #he Secret life of
plants. +e& Lor! 8arper and $o& 4J<94D1.
Feinberger, /. and C. Das )4561* #he effect of an audible and lo& ultrasound freBuency
on the gro&th of synchroni,ed cultures of Scenedesnus obtusiusculus. Can J. 'otan* <2
ED49EDD.
Feinberger, /. and K. Craefe )456E* #he effect of variable9freBuency sounds on plant
gro&th. Can J. 'otan* <4 4G<494G<D.
Feinberger, /. and %. %easures )456G* ?ffects of the intensity of audible sound on the
gro&th and development of $ideau &inter &heat. Can J. 'otan* <6 42ED942E5.
Li, 7., B. Fang, X. Fang, D. Fang, C. Duan, #. Loshiharu and S. A!io )122E* ?ffect of
sound &ave on the metabolism of Chr*santhemum roots. Colloids and Surfaces.
'iointerfaces. 15 44<944G.
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