A team of scientists from China reported that electroculture can increase agricultural yields. The paper has been published in the journal Nature Food. Scientists grown peas by using traditional methods. Also grown other peas by using applying electric shocks.
Electroculture is a suggested method for increasing crop yields. It applies electric current to growing plants. Though scientists so not know why this happens. Many studies have tested that, but they all had methodological flaws. Scientists form China now have done the similar research. But the team did not use double-blind approach in their study.
The work the scientists have done is simple. They have planted two plots of peas from the same sample pods in a greenhouse. Then they tended the peas in traditional processes. But they have grown one plot of peas in an electric field. The plants produced peas and scientists noticed that those grown in the electric field produced a fifth more product. Scientists claimed their results prove that electroculture works as theorized. But they could not explain why.
But the scientists took a new approach to generate the electric field in the pea patch. They generated it on site using a triboelectric nanogenerator which is powered by harvested energy from wind and rainfall, instead of pulling it from the grid. This approach only costed US $40. Scientists also suggested that their technique can be used to increase the food supply for a growing world population.
Scientists have also acknowledged the fact that there might be some hesitancy in consumers about the health impacts of the electric field on the crops.
