Plants emit sounds of suffering or stress, signals that could have been recorded by scientists at Tel Aviv University.
The researchers recorded the ultrasonic sounds emitted by tomato and tobacco plants that were subjected to stress conditions and have managed to record their acoustic responses, says the study published in the journal Cell.
The team recorded the ultrasonic sounds emitted by tomato and tobacco plants. These were placed in an acoustic chamber in a greenhouse, and their physiological parameters were observed. They also subjected them to dehydration and made cuts to check their reaction.
The recordings showed that the plants emitted sounds at frequencies between 40 and 80 kilohertz, explained Lilach Hadany, one of the study’s authors.
The unstressed plants made less than one sound per hour on average, while the stressed ones—both dehydrated and injured—made dozens of sounds every hour.
The recordings were analyzed using artificial intelligence machine learning algorithms, developed specifically for this task.
These sounds are not audible to the human ear, but the ultrasonic frequencies could be detected from a distance of three to five meters by many mammals and insects that have greater hearing sensitivity, such as mice and moths.
The discovery by Israeli researchers could make farming easier. For example, using special sensors, it could be known when plants need more water.