RF Safe

Impact of RF and LEDs on plants growth

2018 · Harm · Low evidence

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HarmLow evidencePaper 1795

Exposure to 2.4 GHz electromagnetic field treatment caused a slightly stressed environment affecting cucumber and marigold plant growth, reducing plant length and flowering rate, possibly due to free radical processes. Heat produced by LEDs also affected plan…

Study snapshot

Publicationmanual · 2018
Study typerandomized_trial
Reported directionHarm
Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

Impact of RF and LEDs on plants growth Al Saadi A, ; Al Rashdi M, Al-Nassri H, Nadir Z, Khan M. Impact of RF and leds on plants growth. 7th Brunei International Conference on Engineering and Technology 2018 (BICET 2018). 12-14 Nov. 2018. DOI: 10.1049/cp.2018.1500. Abstract The agriculture sector is one of the most important sectors supporting the Gross National Product of many countries throughout globe. Improving the agricultural productivity with minimal natural resources is the possible solution to mitigate the worldwide food shortage. This paper discusses a new useful agricultural method by using electromagnetic fields to improve the seed germination and crop yields. Also, this study explored the possible impacts of LEDs with different colours to enhance seed germination. These applications may also have had a positive effect on increasing crop production in the longer term. This research focuses in studying the impact of electromagnetic field, red and blue LEDs on cucumber and marigold plants and analysing the plants after the application of these electromagnetic field treatments. The EM field wasproduced using RF transmitter of 2.4 GHz with horn antenna to expose the experiment plants to the maximum in order to get the best possible outcome. Conclusion Overall results exhibited that the exposure to electromagnetic field treatment yielded a slightly stressed environment, which affected the cucumber plant growth and especially marigold plants development. Increasing the electromagnetic field yielded to reduce plant length and flowering rate. Higher electrolyte leakage coupled with reduced plant growth may be a function of free radical processes. It has been reported earlier that free radicals are potentially detrimental in disrupting biological systems e. g. membrane (lipid peroxidation), DNA, proteins, damage. Apparently, our preliminary results showed similar mechanism of free radical process a source of abiotic stress factor in plants; however repeated experiments on diverse crops are underway to validate our initial results on marigold. The plants in different light boxes were affected with the heat produced by the LEDs. This factor should be taken seriously in any upcoming work with limited closed space. Also, the Biology or microscopic analysis is recommended to investigate it in more depth to conclude accordingly. The cucumber seeds inside the boxes did not germinate because of external effects (not related to our system) since even the seeds outside the boxes did not germinate. ieeexplore.ieee.org

Machine Enhanced Logic

AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typerandomized_trial
Effect directionharm
Populationcucumber and marigold plants
Sample sizeNot supplied
ExposureRF · 2400 MHz
Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 30% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Exposure to 2.4 GHz electromagnetic field treatment caused a slightly stressed environment affecting cucumber and marigold plant growth, reducing plant length and flowering rate, possibly due to free radical processes. Heat produced by LEDs also affected plants in light boxes. Cucumber seeds did not germinate due to external factors unrelated to the system.

Outcomes measured

  • plant length
  • flowering rate
  • electrolyte leakage
  • seed germination

Limitations

  • preliminary results
  • external factors affected seed germination
  • heat from LEDs confounded results
  • recommendation for further biological/microscopic analysis
  • repeated experiments underway for validation
View raw extracted JSON
{
  "study_type": "randomized_trial",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "RF",
    "source": "RF transmitter",
    "frequency_mhz": 2400,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": "cucumber and marigold plants",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "plant length",
    "flowering rate",
    "electrolyte leakage",
    "seed germination"
  ],
  "main_findings": "Exposure to 2.4 GHz electromagnetic field treatment caused a slightly stressed environment affecting cucumber and marigold plant growth, reducing plant length and flowering rate, possibly due to free radical processes. Heat produced by LEDs also affected plants in light boxes. Cucumber seeds did not germinate due to external factors unrelated to the system.",
  "effect_direction": "harm",
  "limitations": [
    "preliminary results",
    "external factors affected seed germination",
    "heat from LEDs confounded results",
    "recommendation for further biological/microscopic analysis",
    "repeated experiments underway for validation"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.3,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "radiofrequency",
    "electromagnetic field",
    "plant growth",
    "seed germination",
    "LED light",
    "abiotic stress",
    "free radicals"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "occupational-exposure",
      "weight": 0.3,
      "reason": "Study involves RF electromagnetic field exposure, though in plants not humans."
    }
  ]
}
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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1049/cp.2018.1500
PubMed: Not supplied

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