Agricultural production is dominated by crop cultivation, and the production methods of crop cultivation are usually to work fertilization, soil loosening and watering. However, a team of agricultural researchers at Linköping University in Sweden has discovered a cultivation method that has never been used by humans before, which can effectively help crops and other plants grow faster by 50%.
Isn't it a bit bizarre that this method is neither fertilizing, loosening the soil, nor watering or enhancing light, but electrifying the soil?
This unique approach is not complicated to say, and it is a combination of integrated conductive cultivation substrates to create an "electronic soil" that is reported to be derived from cellulose and a conductive polymer called PEDOT, which is a mixture of PEDOT:PSS polymers and cellulose nanofibers treated with silicone polymers.
We can also say that it is a conductive soil simulant, and using it as the soil for hydroponic crop cultivation systems, the growth efficiency of plants can be significantly improved.
How did scientists at Linköping University in Sweden come up with the idea of using electricity to change the soil environment needed for plant growth? It turned out that they developed this conductive soil material based on the idea that plant roots can sense electric fields and use them to grow deep in the earth.
We all know that organisms themselves have bioelectricity, the growth of plants itself is a chemical reaction, during which a weak electric current will be generated, the roots of plants need to find water and nutrients in the soil, which requires the participation of bioelectricity, so researchers believe that electrical stimulation is beneficial to plants.
The conductive soil mimic mixture they created stimulates the roots of plants with a weak electric current, causing their roots to absorb nitrates and organic nitrides from the soil more actively, thus promoting growth efficiently.
The researchers planted barley in this conductive hydroponic soil and monitored germination and subsequent growth within 15 days of planting, and found that barley grown in this soil had a higher germination rate and a stronger root system, and the biomass of grain sprouts grown in conductive soil was 50 percent higher in 15 days than in hydroponic soil with artificial rock wool, or 50 percent faster growth at this stage.
Researchers at Linköping University have published their findings in the journal Nature and believe that the growth-promoting properties of this new type of soil will reduce the consumption of fertilizer when growing cereals, reducing the use of fertilizer and reducing the cost of agricultural production.
Electrifying the soil, which can speed up plant growth by 50 percent, is a subversive innovation in agricultural production, which, once put into practice, could set off a revolution in agricultural technology that could help humanity cope with the global food crisis, and in the future when humans colonize extraterrestrials, it can also be used to better produce food and oxygen.
Source: "IT House" reported on December 26 that "Researchers create 'electronic soil' that can increase crop growth rate by 50%"