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The idea of singing to one’s plants may seem quaint and a bit kooky – but one study suggests that it actually makes a lot more sense than you might think.
A research team from Tianjin Normal University in China came to this conclusion after conducting an experiment with duckweed (“Lemna turionifera”), a type of perennial plant rich in protein and amino acids that thrives on the surface of water.
The researchers played Bandari’s “The Purple Butterfly” near duckweed plants for five hours a day for a week. This “soft music”, in the words of the scientists, was played at 60-70 decibels.
The experiment suggests that music may have benefits for plant growth. After seven days, the academics compared the batch of duckweed that grew while “listening” to “The Purple Butterfly” with another that was grown in silence.
They found that the music had significant and almost immediate effects on the development of these perennial plants. The leaf growth rate of the “musical” plants was almost 10% higher than that of the “silent” batch after five days.
The average protein content of duckweed also increased considerably with music. The average protein content of the “musical” plants was 8.89 mg/g FW, significantly higher than that of the batch grown without sound (5.49 mg/g FW).
Furthermore, the researchers noticed that the duckweeds to which they played the music processed light better.
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“Therefore, music stimulation promoted photosynthesis by increasing the expression of photosynthesis-related genes with music treatment,” they explained in their paper, published in the journal “Plant Signaling & Behavior”.
Despite these findings, scientists are still unsure why music has such a profound effect on duckweed. But one thing is certain: the sound vibrations it emits alter the functioning of 1,296 genes in these plants, including those involved in photosynthesis and hormone signalling.
“The results of this study provided insight into how duckweed responded to music and how music can promote growth and the molecular mechanism of duckweed,” they wrote.
The researchers are confident that their work can help contribute to the advancement of research in the field of plant acoustics. Although this scientific field is relatively unexplored, it is attracting the interest of music streaming platforms such as Spotify.
In 2021, the giant created a series of playlists designed specifically for plants. These include pop, ambient and lo-fi music, to give a boost to the ficus, cactus and monstera that offer interiors a green accent.
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