Plant Growth - Music for Plants - Summary

This was the Music for Plants sound treatment (Mother Earth's Plantasia, by Mort Garson), the second experiment with a sound running throughout the entire time course for the experiment "Effects of music on lettuce germination and growth in a hydroponic system" (1) My thoughts and comments are documented below.

This is a time-lapse from the front of the lettuce growing.

This is a time-lapse of the lettuce growing from above.

Run Specific Data:

Below are the growth graphs of the 6 pods over time.

Figure 1. Seedlings sprouted. The number of seedlings were observed sprouting from 5 seeds planted in each pod. The average and standard deviation of 6 biological replicates are shown. On day 6, true leaves started to emerge. Seedlings were pruned back to 1 seed per pod to ensure optimal growth.

a.

b.

c.

Fig 2. Leaf growth characteristics. a-c. True leaf characteristics (not cotyledon) were counted/measured at each time point. The number (a), Width (b), and length (c) were all documented. The average and standard deviation of 6 biological replicates are shown.

Figure 3. Plant wet weight at harvest. Plants were weighed and had the weight of the wet pod and basket subtracted from them to get the plant weight. The average and standard deviation of 6 biological replicates are shown.

Fig 4. Water consumption of plants. Water consumption was determined by measuring the water level in the aerogarden at each time point. The formula: water consumption (mL) = 325.5 (ml/cm) x change in water level (cm) was used. The formula was derived from measuring the change in water level and corresponding water height measurements (2).

a.

b.

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Fig 5. Environmental parameters of experimental setup. a-b. environmental parameters of the air in the cabinet. The temperature (a) humidity (b) was recorded throughout the experiment. c-d. environmental parameters of the water in the aerogarden, inside the cabinet. The temperature (c) humidity (d) was recorded throughout the experiment.

Cumulative Data:

Below are the growth graphs of the 6 pods over time, when compared to the other runs (3, 4)

Figure 6. Seedlings sprouted. The number of seedlings were observed sprouting from 5 seeds planted in each pod. The average and standard deviation of 6 biological replicates are shown.

a.

b.

c.

Fig 7. Leaf growth characteristics. a-c. True leaf characteristics (not cotyledon) were counted/measured at each time point. The number (a), Width (b), and length (c) were all documented. The average and standard deviation of 6 biological replicates are shown.

Figure 8. Plant wet weight at harvest. Plants were weighed and had the weight of the wet pod and basket subtracted from them to get the plant weight. The average and standard deviation of 6 biological replicates are shown.

Fig 9. Water consumption of plants. Water consumption was determined by measuring the water level in the aerogarden at each time point. The formula: water consumption (mL) = 325.5 (ml/cm) x change in water level (cm) was used. The formula was derived from measuring the change in water level and corresponding water height measurements (2)

Thoughts from the experiment:

Overall, the data looks pretty similar. When the lettuces were exposed continuously to the Music for Plants (Mother Earth's Plantasia, by Mort Garson) the length of the leaves trended to grow higher than the control. The width of the leaves trended to grow lower.

It was also interesting to note that this sound treatment caused the plants to consume less water than the control and weighed less at the end of the experiment. A sigmoidal curve looks like it would fit the data better. I am not sure how to make that comparable across treatments though. I would love any insights that people would have.

The dB average for the Music for Plants sound treatment was 56.62 +/- 4.13 dB. There seem to be frequencies ranging from 40Hz-13kHz across the album. There are also a lot of peak melodic frequencies going on across this album which ranges from 40-270 Hz. With some songs having peaks around 600 Hz. (5).

There was still a little bit of tip burn occurring after the addition of additional nutrients to the system. So far the tip burn is just being noted.

The air and water temperature decreased as the experiment progressed. I would like to see if there are any parallels to be drawn between surface area of plant leaves and changes in temperature.

I would love to hear the opinions of others and are greatly appreciated :)

Raw data can be found here

References

Delyea, Cole. Effects Of Music On Lettuce Germination And Growth In A Hydroponic System. Preregistration (V3). ResearchHub [Internet]. 2023 Nov 17 [cited 2024 May 7]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/1164/effects-of-music-on-lettuce-germination-and-growth-in-a-hydroponic-system-preregistration-v3. doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.w177k7ic
Delyea, Cole. Volume Of Aerogarden Based On Water Height. ResearchHub [Internet]. 2024 Jan 6 [cited 2024 May 7]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/1437/volume-of-aerogarden-based-on-water-height. doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.yzb05fym
Delyea, Cole. Plant Growth - No Sound Control - Summary. ResearchHub [Internet]. 2024 Feb 5 [cited 2024 May 7]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/1569/plant-growth-no-sound-control-summary . doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.m884jc3u
Delyea, Cole. Plant Growth - Buddhist Mantra - Summary. ResearchHub [Internet]. 2024 Apr 95 [cited 2024 May 7]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/2011/plant-growth-buddhist-mantra-summary . doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.hf9jnzbi
Delyea, Cole. Music For Plants Sound Characteristics (Mother Earth's Plantasia, Mort Garson). ResearchHub [Internet]. 2024 Apr 3 [cited 2024 May 7]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/2201/music-for-plants-sound-characteristics-mother-earths-plantasia-mort-garson . doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.49bjdg7w

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Plant Growth - Music for Plants - Summary