Yasmina Kattou 09:44, 06 April 2023

Israeli scientists have managed to detect sounds, inaudible to humans, that differ according to the species and type of stress to which the plant is subjected. This discovery could be useful in agriculture to know the needs of plants in real time.

Plants are not as silent as they seem. For the first time, Israeli researchers have recorded sounds emitted by plants. The sound of a tomato plant sounds like popcorn popping. It is emitted every hour by a plant that is doing well. When it is dehydrated, or the stems have been cut recently, the noise is more jerky.

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Stressed, plants emit up to 35 sounds per hour that resemble crackles. They would be due to air bubbles that form in the stem when the plant lacks water for example.

Imperceptible to the human ear

If you have a tomato plant on the balcony, no need to listen. These noises are too high-pitched to be perceptible to the human ear. An ultrasonic microphone made it possible to capture them and their frequency was changed by the researchers to be perceived by humans.

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On the other hand, animals such as bats or mice would be sensitive to these sounds. This discovery could be useful in agriculture to know the needs of plants in real time.