Effect of Music On Plants - An Overview
Effect of Music On Plants - An Overview
Effect of Music On Plants - An Overview
Plants are known to respond to stimuli and music is considered as one. It has been observed that different
Article history:
types of sound affect the health of plants differently. In this paper, the influence of acoustic frequencies
Received 09 December 15 including those of music on the growth pattern of plants as observed by many researchers have been
Received in revised form 19 Dec 15 reported. Besides, the authors have carried out a pilot study to observe the response of Tagetes sp.
(marigold) to Light Indian Music and Meditation Music as well as to noise. They have also monitored the
Accepted 28 December 15 germination of Cicer arietinum (chickpea) on exposure to Light Indian Music. It could be commented that
music promoted the growth and development of the plants, including germination whereas noise hindered
it. Possibly, specific audible frequencies and also musical frequencies facilitate better physiological
processes like absorption of nutrients, photosynthesis, protein synthesis, etc. for the plant and this is
Keywords: observable in terms of increased height, higher number of leaves and overall more developed and healthier
plants.
Germination
Tagetes sp. Marigold
2012 Editor-IJIIT. Hosting by AGSI Publications. All rights reserved.
Cicer arietinum Chickpea
Light Indian Music
Meditation Music
Noise
How to cite this article: Anindita Roy Chowdhury and Anshu Gupta (2015). Effect of Music on Plants An Overview,
International Journal of Integrative Sciences, Innovation and Technology (IJIIT), 4(6), 30 34.
soya and paddy. Musical vibrations stimulated seed germination of
okra and zucchini ([4]-[5]).
1. Introduction
Music not only accelerates growth but also significantly influences the
Music is known to have a profound effect on human beings. Plants are
concentration of various metabolites; e.g. chlorophyll and starch are
also living objects that breathe and grow. Some scientists are of the
increased by it [6]. Experiments by Chivukula and Ramaswamy [7]
opinion that plants are devoid of a nervous system and therefore are
showed that soothing vibration in the form of vedic chants and Indian
unable to understand music or respond to music. However, there are a
classical music endorsed growth of rose (Rosa chinensis) whereas rock
few studies which suggest that music may have distinct effect on
music stunted growth. Plants exposed to western music were found
plants. Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose was one of the pioneers to study the
largely similar to the control plants except for the fact that the density
behavior of plants in response to various stimuli ([1]-[3]). Music is a
of thorns in these rose plants were higher. Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) is
harmonious and coherent blend of various frequencies and vibrations
an essential plant hormone that helps in plants growth and
and has many different forms, qualities, and pitches. It is believed that
development. Zhu and co-workers observed that IAA content in plants
loud and unharmonious sounds can ruin the mood and health of a plant
were found at an increased level in six species of vegetable plants when
and blossoms. Soft rhythmic music on the other hand is better for their
exposed to musical acoustic frequencies in comparison to the control
growth and blossoms, and thus may increase plants rate of growth,
plants [8]. Yi and colleagues reported that sound stimulation increased
their size and influence their overall health. The work of Reddy et al.,
the metabolism of roots and hence the growth of chrysanthemum [9].
showed that Indian classical ragas had a positive impact on overall
Vanol and Vaidya applied sounds of varying frequencies and types
plant protein production on plants like wheat, spinach, horse gram,
(classical music, rhythmic rock music and non-rhythmic traffic noise)
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to Guar plants and monitored the parameters such as number of seeds to growth of plant; and nucleus, chloroplast, vacuoles and ribosomes
germinated in petri-dishes, difference in height of plants and number of play an important role in this process. [21]
leaves for 13 days, on daily basis. Their results showed positive effect
on exposure to classical music and rhythmic rock music, and negative
effect of non-rhythmic traffic noise as compared to control or untreated 4. Growth Influenced by Acoustic Frequencies
plants. On the contrary some other researchers showed that compared
to silence, any kind of sound promoted growth in bean plants ([10]- Sound is a wave and music is a specific kind of melodious sound.
[11]). Sonic exposure increased the oxygen content and level of These waves capable of moving through elastic media are characterized
polyamines in cucumber and Chinese cabbage, thus improving overall by specific frequencies. Plants being living organisms get affected by
plant health [12]. Findings also suggested that high frequency sound external stimuli. Many researchers have used sound wave frequencies
waves retard the growth of Aspergillus spp., a type of fungus [13]. as external stimuli and studied their effect on plants. Collins and
This fact can be tapped for the benefit of the food industry. Foreman [22] subjected beans and impatiens plants to sounds of
different frequencies (5000 Hz, 6000 Hz, 12000 Hz, and 14000 Hz).
Under similar environmental conditions favourable for plant growth,
2. Sound, Music and Standing Waves the plants were kept inside a chamber and the sound waves were
directed towards them. The process of speaker diaphragm moving back
In a musical scale, every note has its own frequency value [14]. Ratio and forth generated a wave in the vicinity in air medium. Compression
of the frequencies of two notes determines the musical interval which portion of the wave generated increased pressure and rarefaction
describes the difference between two notes. Music that is pleasant to generated reduced pressure and this propagated along the surface of the
the ears is usually a combination of simple frequency ratios. Musical leaves creating a scrubbing or brushing action on the leaf surface. This
notes in a given scale played sequentially generates melody [15]. When helped in removal of the moisture film and facilitated the leaf to
sound waves propagate through air, it leads to air pressure disturbance. breathe or transpire better. Most favorable growth was observed in both
Thus, vibrations from tuning fork, musical instruments, diaphragm of a beans and the impatiens plants when the wavelength of the sound
loudspeaker, vocal cords, etc. create air pressure disturbances of the played matched with the dimension of the leaf of the plant [22].
corresponding frequency and intensity. Basically, two conditions that Xiujuan and team reported that sound wave accelerated the synthesis of
are required for the generation and propagation of sound waves are a RNA and soluble protein that increased the level of transcription and in
vibratory disturbance of frequencies in the audible frequency range of turn promoted better growth [23].
20 Hz to 20,000 Hz and an elastic medium. Speed, pitch, loudness,
quality or timbre characterizes sound waves [16]. Metabolism in plants can be greatly affected by music. Plants are
reported to behave differently to different music types and frequency.
Music is created in different instruments by forming standing waves. Sternheimer, a French physicist and musician, has framed melodies that
Whenever two waves with equal frequency and wavelength moving apparently help plants grow. The notes are designed on the basis of the
through a medium perfectly reinforce each other, standing waves result. quantum vibrations that occur at the molecular level as a protein is
Standing waves can occur in all elastic media and are created in the being assembled from its constituent amino acids. Length of a note
guitar strings, skin of the drumhead, column of air in flute, etc. correspond to the real time that is taken by each amino acid to come
Whenever, a note is played in a musical instrument, a medium vibrates after the next. Thus, on playing the appropriate tune, production of
due to which the sound is produced. Frequency of the desired note is protein increases in the plant and hence, its growth is stimulated.
the fundamental frequency caused by the first mode of vibration. Sternheimer remarked that tomatoes exposed to such tunes grew two
Interestingly, many higher modes of vibration always naturally occur at and a half times better than the control ones; even virus growth in
the same time when a specific note is played. Fundamental frequency tomato plants could be stopped by playing tunes that inhibited enzymes
and all its overtones together produce the sound of the desired musical essential for it ([24] [25]).
note. Overtones are the integral multiples of the fundamental frequency
and all have different intensities - lower than that of the fundamental Growth rate in terms of height and biomass respectively increased by
frequency. Fundamental and the overtones are also referred as 20% and 72% when treated with classical music, i.e. raga music played
harmonics. The frequencies of harmonics form an arithmetic sequence. on Indian musical instruments like flute, violin, and harmonium.
Fundamentally, certain frequencies are associated with different Similar positive effect was observed in field crops - like size increment
musical notes. For example, frequency of the middle C on the piano in the range of 25% to 60% above other regional crops. Petunias and
keyboard has a frequency of approximately 262 Hz ([14], [16] [20]). marigolds were found to flower two weeks before the scheduled time
when exposed to the rhythm of bharatnatyam, an ancient Indian
classical dance style [26].
3. Growth in Living Organisms Cai et al., exposed mung bean (Vigna radiate) to sound of frequencies
10001500Hz, 15002000Hz, and 20002500Hz, and measured their
An irreversible permanent increase in size, volume or mass of a cell or development in terms of mean germination time, length and weight of
entire organism is termed as growth. All living organisms including the stem and root that developed from the bean. They reported
plants experience growth. At a cellular level, growth is generally significant reduction of germination time and increase in growth of the
regarded as a consequence of increase in the amount of protoplasm seedlings when exposed to frequency of 2000 Hz and intensity of 90
measuring which directly is difficult. So, growth is measured in terms dB [27].
of parameters like increase in weight, length, area, volume, cell
number, etc. Increase in growth per unit time defines growth rate. Per Frequency of audible sound may stimulate the opening of leaf stomata
unit time growth can also be expressed in terms of initial parameters, and thus, facilitate the plant to absorb more dew, more light energy and
thus, accounting for relative growth measurement. Cell division leads help it to grow better. Audible sound with certain frequencies are
expected to enable better respiration and absorption of nutrients as
6. Conclusion
Acknowledgements