Researchers study 'sound of plants dancing' to improve agriculture

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – What do dancing plants sound like?

Researchers at Virginia Tech think the answer could be one tool wielded in the future of agriculture.

Using experimental technology, the scientists are trying to figure out how the sonification of plant movements could be used to assess plant health and aid farmers who need to monitor their greens at an industrial scale.

They are focused on indoor agriculture. Think greenhouses with LED lights and plants in hydroponic systems, using liquid nutrient solutions.

"When you grow a plant inside a building, you really control … introducing any insects or pathogens, minimizing the use of pesticides," said Bingyu Zhao, associate professor in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences. "But you can still have disease problems or sometimes they could have environmental stress."

Imagine a grower using an indoor facility with dozens of rows of plants. Unlike in a small backyard garden, they can't continuously check on every individual plant to monitor the effects of all those variables.

So Zhao got the idea to set up cameras to do it instead, using a small number of pepper plants for observation. The high-resolution cameras capture the continuous movements of the plants. Over times, patterns develop.

The researchers then took the data and converted it into sound in a process called sonification. In that way, a human could hear patterns present among the plants.

The idea is to be able to link certain sounds to indicators that a plant needs better light, for example. Computers could learn "what is a good sound and what is a bad sound," Zhao said.

The project is just one part of the university's new statewide SmartFarm Innovation Network, said Susan Duncan, associate director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station.

Two years ago, the school brought together stakeholders in the agriculture and food processing fields. One big takeaway: innovation was on everyone's mind. In order to maintain a future workforce and adapt with evolving needs, they needed to think outside traditional techniques, she said.

With growing plants indoors, for example, "you can't just say, 'I'm going to put this LED light over my plant and see how it goes,' " Duncan said. "There's a science behind it."