According to the study, when the stalk was cut, tomatoes gave off 25-band ultrasound space due to stress during an hour. (Photo via lamtho.vn)
A team of researchers from Israel has found that some plants emit the sounds of suffering at high frequencies when they are exposed to pressure from the surrounding environment.
The Tel Aviv University team, led by researcher Itzhak Khait, measured the range of sounds emitted by tomato plants and tobacco plants when under stress due to lack of water or being cut off. The recorders recorded ultrasounds between 20 and 100 kHz from the two plants.
Sounds from stressed plants cannot be heard with normal ears, but the team of scientists believes that some creatures will be able to hear it even up to a few meters away. .
According to this study, when the stalk was cut, the tomato plant gave off 25-band ultrasound space due to stress during an hour. In contrast, tobacco plants only emit 15 ultrasonic bands when their stems are cut.
When water is depleted, the tomato plants emit 35 ultrasonic bands for an hour, while tobacco plants emit 11 ultrasonic bands. The team found that the sound made when plants were dehydrated was louder than the sound when the plants were cut off.
Besides, plants that are not under any stress from the external environment will only play less than one ultrasonic strip per hour.
The researchers also said that plants, other animals, and humans (with tools) can hear these ultrasonic screams. For example, an unpublished study suggests that moths can hear ultrasonic bands coming from a dehydrated plant, which in turn selects another plant to spawn.
In other cases, plants can also recognize and react to the ultrasonic bands emitted by plants that are dehydrated.
“These findings could change the way we think about the botanical world, which has historically been considered almost stationary,” the researchers said.
Then, the Tel Aviv University team collected data and used it to program a machine model that can predict the frequencies that plants emit when experiencing other external effects. each other, such as the impact of rain or strong winds.
The team believes that plants will emit different ultrasonic bands when they are subjected to different external influences.
“Other studies on plant bio-sound in general and sound emission in plants in particular can open a new direction for the research process of plants and their interaction with the environment, This could also have a significant impact on the agricultural sector, ”said the researchers.
Mr. Anne Anne Visscher, a member of the Department of Plant and Fungi Biology at the Royal Botanic Gardens in the UK also identified the concept of “recognizing the sound emitted by plants that lack water to apply it. crop cultivation will become feasible, if the cost of constructing a sound filtration system is not too expensive ”.
