Vegetable growing technique not music to everyone's ears
A grower in East China's Zhejiang Province has thought of a novel way to increase the output and quality of his vegetables - by playing music to them.
Ye Fei, from the coastal city of Ningbo, insisted that plants or animals could feel music because they are living things, the Hangzhou-based Metropolitan Express reported.
Since last March, Ye has installed dozens of cartoon-shaped sound boxes outside 10 plastic-sheeting vegetable tents in his Feihong Vegetable Base in Zhenhai District, on a trial basis.
In the morning, he would let the vegetables listen to Symphony No 6 "Pastoral" by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) while in the afternoon, he would play piano music with soft melodies.
And among the 15 types of vegetables growing in the 10 tents, five kinds have remarkably grown more quickly, Ye said.
Clients and employees at his vegetable base said his technique was a bit odd.
"Even clients who conducted business with me for dozens of years would ask me what the sound boxes are used for," Ye said.
Ye's musical method was initiated early this year after he visited the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, where he found some growers had used sound wave instruments to help their vegetables grow.
"Some growers told me after listening to the sound, the output of their cucumbers could be raised by some 20 percent and they even tasted better," he said.
In order to know why, Ye also traveled to East China's Shanghai, seeking advice from experts from the local agricultural science academy.
"The experts told me the method is hi-tech and still under experiment," Ye recalled.
After returning home, Ye started his own experiment by installing sound boxes in half of his 400 mu (27 hectares) of vegetable patch.
"I think the experiment has brought effects. The growth speed of cucumbers, tomatoes, dishcloth gourd and two others has been raised by some 5 percent to 7 percent over the previous years," Ye said.
Wang Yuhong, director of Vegetables Research Institute under Ningbo Agricultural Science Academy, doubted whether the experiment was effective.
"It is now quite understandable to use music on cows to raise the output of milk, and the test by using sound wave instruments on vegetables is still being trialed," he said.
"But Ye's practice is a bit different from the sound wave instruments. He is playing music, and I think it needs more tests.
If it is really effective, it is surely an agricultural innovation."
China Daily
(China Daily 09/11/2007 page6)
