Plant Growth - Buddhist Mantra - Summary

This was the Buddhist Mantra sound treatment (Om Mani Padme Hum), the first 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.

c.

d.

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 Trial Run (3)

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:

I have not applied any statistics to the data, because The one-way ANOVA required at least 3 groups to compare against.

Overall, the data looks pretty similar. When the lettuces were exposed continuously to the Buddhist Mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum) the length of the leaves trended to grow higher than the control, while the width of the leaves looked significantly less by the end of the experimental time frame. The plants closest to the speaker seemed to be the ones that grew the tallest, which I found fascinating!

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.

The dB average for the Buddhist Mantra sound treatment was 59.05 +/- 5.94 dB. The peak frequencies of the track were between 255-520 Hz with brief intervals between 555-720 Hz. More information can be found in the post about the music (4).

There was still a little bit of tip burn occurring after the addition of additional nutrients to the system (this was the only time that the leaves got burned). I increased the height of the light 4 days earlier but raised it the second time to coincide with the control so that the light height difference should have evened out. So far the tip burn is just being noted.

It was interesting to note that 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 Apr 9]. 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 Apr 9]. 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 Apr 9]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/1569/plant-growth-no-sound-control-summary . doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.m884jc3u
Delyea, Cole. Buddhist Mantra Sound Characteristics (Om Mani Padme Hum). ResearchHub [Internet]. 2024 Apr 3 [cited 2024 Apr 9]. Available from: https://www.researchhub.com/post/1966/buddhist-mantra-sound-characteristics-om-mani-padme-hum. doi:10.55277/ResearchHub.ywf8enf4

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Plant Growth - Buddhist Mantra - Summary

Plant Growth - Buddhist Mantra - Summary