Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56

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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

Original papers

Plant irradiation device in microwave field with controlled environment

C. Viliche Balint a, V. Surducan b,⇑, E. Surducan b, I.G. Oroian a
a
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 3-5 Calea Manastur, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
b
National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies (INCDTIM), 67-103 Donat St., 400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Plant irradiation during the germination period, by using environmental low level microwave radiation
Received 18 July 2015 (known as electrosmog) alters the plant germination and the growing process. In order to analyze if such
Received in revised form 5 November 2015 a subtle effect is generated only by the microwave irradiation, the environmental parameters (light, tem-
Accepted 25 November 2015
perature, and humidity) must be kept identical for the reference and the irradiated lot. This is a difficult
task because the humidity and temperature are interrelated. In order to study the plant behavior under
microwaves low power irradiation, the paper describes the design, manufacturing and operating process
Keywords:
and device performances on plant growth. To this end, a low power microwave field (average microwaves
Low power microwave irradiation
Electrosmog
power density of 3.8 mW/m2) under controlled environmental parameters is used. The device consists of
Germination a reference chamber (R) and a microwave irradiation chamber (I), of 0.5 m3 volume each one, equipped
Plant growth with access doors. The irradiation chamber ensures microwave field distribution with programmable
Embedded systems power, frequency and bandwidth in the most commonly used standards for network communication
Humidity such as: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM900/1800), Code Division Multiple Access
(CDMA), the third generation of mobile telecommunications technology (3G) or 2.4/5 GHz Wireless
Local Area Network (WLAN). Both chambers provide a radiofrequency (RF) shielding (at least
60 dB)
against and toward outside, so the electrosmog is shielded and does not interfere with the inner environ-
ment. Both chambers are equipped with performing temperature/humidity sensors and controlled LED
lighting system (maximum 400 lmol cm
2 s
1) with a uniformity of ±5 lmol cm
2 s
1 measured at
the bottom level of the chamber. An embedded system (microcontroller) measures the temperature
and humidity and proceeds continuously to match the humidity into the chambers pair with less than
±1.5% relative humidity (RH) difference, by using a low flux exhaust ventilation process through a simple
innovative method. The accuracy of the temperature measurement is better than ±0.2 °C. Humidity and
temperature data set are logged (with programmable acquisition rate) during the whole experiment and
can be read later by a personal computer. To identify the influence of microwave treatment on bean seeds
and plants development, three growing experiments were settled, based on 122 bean seeds each. The
number of germinated seeds (determined each day during 8 days of experiment), the germination energy
(GE [%]) of the seeds, the length of stems (SL) and roots (RL), the germination (G) [%], the seedling vigor
index (SVI) and dry matter content (DM%) have been measured and computed. The obtained data showed
significant increase for all parameters on microwave irradiation condition.
Ó 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The treatment of the plants and seeds using high or low power
microwave irradiation is quite known among the researchers but
the results are controversial. These two types of microwave irradi-
ation (using high or low power) create very different results. High
power microwave irradiation induces a thermal effect, thus it can
be used safely for treating seeds and grains only, for a short period
of exposure. Low power microwave radiation does not alter
⇑ Corresponding author.
irreversible the plant structure, being suitable for long time irradi-
ation exposure during plant growing. The arguable results for low
power microwave irradiation experiments relies mostly in the poor
control of the experimental conditions, where the environmental
parameters (light, temperature, humidity) are not entirely known
and the microwave distribution field is not fully characterized.
The effect of low power electromagnetic microwave irradiation
on seed germination and plant growth was studied by Oprica
(2008), on the catalase and peroxidase activity in rape germinating
seeds, using a microwave generator at 10.75 GHz and a horn
antenna with a power density lower than 1 mW/cm2. Skiles
(2006) proposed the hypothesis that there is no difference between

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2015.11.012
0168-1699/Ó 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56
the plants exposed and not exposed to low power microwave field.
The experiment showed that under controlled environment, there
was no difference in chlorophylle content in leafs of alfalfa after
microwave exposure at 2.45 GHz and low intensities from 0.5 to
1.2 mW/cm2. However the microwave irradiation protocol used,
based on wave reflections in open space (where the electrosmog
exists) is debatable.
Tylkowska et al. (2010), proposed the use of high power micro-
wave radiation in order to reduce Penicillium spp. on/in bean seeds.
In this case, the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) seeds were
exposed to microwaves in a microwave oven (650 W, 2450 MHz)
for a variable time of 15–120 s. Cretescu et al. (2013), used a vari-
able power magnetron MWG20H at 2.45 GHz on barley seeds
exposed up to 20 s with 400 W and 720 W. However, the micro-
wave power field has been estimated at 20 kW/m3 and 36 kW/m3
respectively, but not measured. In order to determine the
effects of the microwave radiation on the inhibition of seed germi-
nation, Velàzquez-Marti et al. (2006) tested a microwave distribu-
tion system with a waveguide fed by one 4 kW magnetron,
designed to treat a large soil surface and volume. Then, the irradi-
ation of buried seeds in trays was performed by using a prototype
continuous oven with four lined magnetrons of 1 kW each, in order
to slightly increase the temperature of the soil and seeds. Xiaogang
et al. (2014) studied the changes induced in protein molecular
structures of barley grains after 3 min and 5 min exposure in
power microwave field (2450 MHz and 1.33 W/g). The results
showed an improvement of the nutritive value and utilization of
crude protein in barely grains. Martinez Solis et al. (2014) shows
that power microwave irradiation (using a Panasonic microwave
oven and 10, 20 and 30 s exposure) could be a useful method for
significantly reduces fungi presence on seeds of four wheat vari-
eties (Tlaxcala, Batán, Rebeca, and Triunfo). Reddy et al. (2000)
observed that seed germination and seed vigor can be affected neg-
atively during high power microwave irradiation for long exposure
sessions. Radzevicus et al. (2013) evaluate the effect of high pulsed
power microwave field (4 lS pulse at 25 Hz, 9.3 GHz and 80 kW
microwave power) on seed germination and seedlings (tomato,
carrot and radish). Irradiation took place inside a waveguide. Sig-
nificantly irradiation effects where observed an all seeds. As seen
above, there are a large number of experiments involving either
low or high power microwave field, each using independent micro-
wave irradiation protocols.
Our patented device (Surducan et al., 2008, 2007) presented in
this paper was used in its early development stage for various
low power microwave irradiation experiments conducted at
INCDTIM Cluj-Napoca (Lung, Surducan, Stan, Soran). Lung et al.
(2013), investigated the effect of low power microwave on the
concentration of phenolic compounds from plants. The results
showed that the concentration of total flavonoids and total phe-
nolic acids is higher in irradiated plants compared to the non-
irradiated plants. In the experiment conducted by Surducan
et al. (2013), the effects of low power microwave irradiation, at
2.45 GHz, on plant samples, was studied. The microwave power
level used in their experiment was identical with wireless LAN
communications. Reference and irradiated plants were phenotyp-
ically similar, but the growth was strongly correlated with micro-
wave irradiation. Another study (Stan et al., 2014) found a
variation of the ascorbic acid content in leaves of parsley, dill
and celery plants grown in low power microwave fields at two
microwave frequency domains: GSM and WLAN. The percentage
increase in ascorbic acid content of irradiated plants reported to
reference batch plants was calculated. Soran et al. (2014) studied
the influence of low power microwave irradiation using fre-
quency bands and amplitudes corresponding to wireless router
(WLAN) and mobile devices (GSM), on leaf anatomy, essential
oil content and volatile emissions in Petroselinum crispum, Apium
49
graveolens and Anethum graveolens. The results showed a direct
relationship between microwave-induced structural and chemical
modifications of the three studied plant species. Important differ-
ences were identified by Lung et al. (2013a), on irradiated plant
compared with control plants, in the caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid,
luteolin, naringenin and apigenin amount. In terms of stress
caused by irradiation with microwaves, Lung et al. (2013b) inves-
tigated the effect of low power WLAN microwave radiation on
chlorophyll pigments from Ocimum basilicum L. The experiment
included reference (no microwave), microwave-stressed plants
and control plants (growth in normal condition). The content of
chlorophylls a and b from plants subjected to microwaves was
smaller than in the reference plants.
Despite the large number of published papers discussing the
influence of the electromagnetic (EM) radiation on living cells,
the effect of low power microwave (MW) radiation in plants
growth is still not entirely known (Cucurachi et al., 2013). All
experiments involving plants growth in controlled environment
(temperature, humidity, illumination, MW radiation) are huge
time consuming and are not reproducible as expected. Precise
growing plants experiments using low power microwave field for
irradiation are usually carried out using either (i) two standard
plant growing chambers or (ii) two anechoic chambers (one for
the reference and one for the irradiated batch). However, low
power microwave irradiation experiments must not be influenced
by the environmental EM radiation (the electrosmog). The (i)
option fails the radiofrequency isolation to/from the outer world
(standard plant growth chambers (LCG5201; KWB-240; SGC120)
are not anechoic) while the (ii) option fails the precise internal
environment control requirement (anechoic chambers LUF have
no uniform light, humidity and temperature control). Even if two
standardized plant growing chambers are modified to be anechoic
(which is a very difficult approach) it’s almost impossible to main-
tain the same environment parameters in the same period of time,
in two traditional growing chambers without customization of the
automation control. Such customization is expensive. To avoid the
listed problems above, we choose to design and manufacture our
proprietary low cost plant growing chambers in a few improved
variants until the optimized version presented here met the
requirements of both anechoic and growing chambers. As far we
know, such device is not available today on the market for research
purposes. To correct this deficiency, we have imagined this device
for precise plant growth experiments in low power microwave
field. The device is composed by a reference chamber (R) and an
irradiation chamber (I), both anechoic and the same size. It is
moveable and can support the growth of a varied number of plants
from the germination stage, to about 10–12 cm tall. Since the
chambers are quasi-closed, the internal temperature and relative
humidity cannot be controlled simultaneously as demonstrated
by Eq. (1).
e
U w ðtÞ ¼  100% ð1Þ
ew ðtÞ
where
Uw(t) = relative humidity (RH) at a given temperature
e = partial vapor pressure in air
ew = saturated vapor pressure above water at a given
temperature
The temperature defines the saturation vapor pressure
(Lawrence, 2005). The Magnus Eq. (2) shows that the saturation
water vapor pressure changes exponentially with the temperature.
 
bt
ew ðtÞ ¼ a exp ð2Þ
kþt
50 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56

where a = 610.94 Pa, b = 17.62, k = 243.04 °C provides values for ew connectors

with a relative error smaller than 0.4% in the temperature range
t =
45 °C . . . +50 °C.
fan
A slight change in temperature (especially at high humidity) has
a significant effect on relative humidity (RH), since the saturation

3
pressure changes too. However, since in both R and I chambers metallic case
the plants must have identical growing conditions, we found a

5
good compromise to maintain equilibrium between chambers
humidity (±1.5% RH) and allow a variation of ±0.5 °C in the cham- porous
bers internal temperature. The internal air humidity excess is pro- cardboard
vided by the watering of the plants. Once the plants are not wet LED strip array
anymore, the relative humidity inside the chambers equals the
external environmental humidity because the chambers are not outer air flow
sealed for the air pressure. The speed of this process should be as RF antenna
low as possible to avoid fast drying of the plants.
inner air
flow
2. Materials and methods
Fig. 2. Partial cross-section view of the chamber (dimensions in cm).

2.1. Chambers description

The reference chamber and the irradiation chamber aspect are RH/°C-R RH/ºC-I
mechanically identical (Fig. 1). Both consist of an outer metallic SENSOR SENSOR
case (0.8 mm stainless steel sheet) of 37  37  37 cm and an inner
+3.6V
anechoic chamber. The anechoic chamber is a cube made by six

R data

I data
pressed cardboards, one mounted on the door. Every cardboard clock
(31  31 cm) has 6  7 truncated cone structures placed at
4.5 cm each. The cones are 5 cm deep. The cardboard is coated with
a microwaves absorber material (multiple layers of porous gra-
phite paint with silicon carbide powder and a very fine coat of var- BACK-UP
nish against moisture soak). 16 LED strips (every strip consisting of
EMBEDDED SYSTEM POWER
15 white SMD 3528 LED at 5200 K color temperature) are placed SUPPLY
equidistantly in the ceiling of each chamber (Fig. 2). The LED strips
R-FAN
R-PWM

I-PWM
are supplied with programmable current from a power supply and
I-FAN
allow variable light intensity adjustment up to 400 lmol cm
2 s
1
measured at 9 cm above the floor. A fan (1/2 Gembird HD-A3, 12 V
0.12 A, 4800 RPM, 0.25 m3/min) is placed on the right back of the
top side of the chambers. The fan is used to exhaust the moist air R-LED I-LED
between the anechoic chamber and the outer metallic case. There LAMP LAMP
is also a small air flow between the inner and the outer of the ane- +12V
choic chamber through the cardboard porosity as depicted in Fig. 2.
On the left wall of the anechoic chamber, at 22 cm above the
floor, a smart temperature/humidity sensor is mounted (model R-FAN I-FAN
SHT75 (±2% RH, ±0.3 °C) Sensirion SHT75 in a protective jacket).
Two types of microwave generators (for GSM/CDMA and for Fig. 3. The automation schematic of one device set.

LED/RF supply fan WLAN) are used. An RF stick antenna, matched with the irradiation
frequency value is mounted in the center of the ceiling of the irra-
diation chamber. For the GSM irradiation, we have used a typical
RH/ºC sensor 17 mm long helical GSM phone antenna.
door
2.2. The automation

A device set composed by a reference chamber and an irradiation

chamber is driven from an automation system based on an embedded
system (Fig. 3). The embedded system is designed around a
PIC18F26J50 microcontroller (Microchip PIC18F46J50) with USB
interface. The microcontroller has an internal real time clock-
calendar (RTCC) which allows precisely and programmable sampling
rate for the temperature/humidity data. A back-up power supply pro-
metallic case vides +3.6 V from a Li-Ion 1200 mA h accumulator for the embedded
truncated cone systems and +12 V/1 A from a sealed acid accumulator for the LED
cardboard strips and fans. The light inside the chambers has dimming possibility
for long programmable time (used for the sunset and sunrise simula-
Fig. 1. The schematic view of the chamber. tion). The reference chamber fan (R-fan) and the irradiation chamber
 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56
Fig. 4. Program flow – simplified logic diagram.
fan (I-fan) are turned ON or OFF accordingly to the humidity differ-
ence between those two chambers (or by other algorithm chosen
by the operator at the programming time), as seen in Fig. 4.
After the hardware reset of the embedded system, the micro-
controller is waiting for a command/data ASCII string via the VCP
(virtual communication port) of a personal computer. An USB cable
must be connected between devices prior sending data. The string
has fixed length and contains values for the RTCC, the sampling
time value (t_sample) and a terminator character. Once the termi-
nator character is received, the program flow into the embedded
system starts running. The USB cable between the computer and
the embedded system can be now removed.
The embedded system (Fig. 4) reads first the initial values of the
relative humidity (RH_I, RH_R) and temperature (T_I, T_R) from
both irradiation (I) and reference (R) chambers. The relative humid-
ity values between the I and the R chambers are compared. Based
on the result, the fan corresponding to the chamber with higher
measured humidity (FAN_R or FAN_I) is turned on. If the humidity
values in the I chamber and the R chamber are matching, both fans
are turned off. The process goes on an infinite loop. To retrieve data
stored in the non volatile memory of the embedded system, the
switch LOG&RUN must be switched from data logging to data
retrieve position. A software counter previously incremented at
every sampling time is then decremented after every data sent to
the PC, until it is cleared. Once the counter value is zero, a message
is sent to the computer, pointing out the end of the retrieving pro-
cess. In addition, a LED mounted on the embedded board lights
green during the communication process and blinks red during
every data sampling time in order to warn the operator.
2.3. Microwave generators
Two types of microwave generators were used for the
irradiation process in the irradiation chamber. For the lower
51
frequency ranges a modified AP5200 generator (D-LINK, China),
operating in four bands (CDMA: 860–900 MHz, GSM: 925–
980 MHz, DCS: 1810–1965 MHz, 3G: 2020–2190 MHz) was used.
The modification allows variable output power between 10 mW
and max. 2.7 W (GSM), 1.9 W (DCS), 3.3 W (CDMA) and 1.4 W
(3G). Fig. 5 reveals the structure of one amplifier chain of the
generator. A multi-turn potentiometer R7 has been mounted to
provide output power adjusts. The generator comprises of four
described chains (Fig. 5), which differ by the voltage controlled
oscillator U1 (VCO) frequency range only. A saw oscillator based
on the LM555 integrated circuit (Texas Instruments LM555) pro-
vides signal for the modulation input (MOD, Fig. 5) of the VCO.
The stick antenna characteristic is matched with the output fre-
quency range at the RF_OUT connector.
For the WLAN frequency range, a D-LINK wireless router
802.11 g/2.4 GHz (2.412–2.48 GHz frequency range, Pout = max.
19 dB m) was used. On every new experiment the output power
was measured with a microwave powermeter, Agilent N1911A
(with E9321A Agilent peak and average power sensor).
2.4. The experiment
Before the experiment the LED strips were fully powered during
one full month to correct the initial LED aging process. After one
month, the LED strip energy was calibrated for a photosynthetically
active radiation (PAR) of 100 lmol cm
2 s
1 ± 5 lmol cm
2 s
1
measured at 1 cm distance from the chamber floor. After the cali-
bration, the light energy was measured in both chambers on three
different planes (at 1 cm, 4 cm and 9 cm measured from the floor, in
25 measuring points on every plane) using an Ocean Optics HR4000
spectrometer and an optical fiber. The maximum PAR difference
between the reference and irradiation chamber (Fig. 6) was
9.3 lmol cm
2 s
1, measured on the 9 cm plane, the closest to the
LED strips.
The data logger was programmed to sample the temperature
and humidity data from the reference and the irradiation chambers
every 30 min. The microwave generator was set to GSM frequen-
cies (925–980 MHz) and the power density was measured using
a portable spectrum analyzer (Spectran HF6060) and a calibrated
stick antenna. The microwaves power density map, shows three
levels measured from base to top (Fig. 7) in order to correlate the
plants growing evolution with the local microwaves power
density. A normal increase of the power density from base (initial
position of the seeds) to the top (where antenna is placed) was
observed. Average values of 2.25 mW/m2 at 1 cm high, 3.54 mW/m2
at 4 cm high, 5.6 mW/m2 at 9 cm high and 3.8 mW/m2 over
the entire chamber volume were measured. These values of the
power density distributions are in the same range of the micro-
waves power densities levels measured in the proximity of a
GSM phone (SAR = 0.86) during a communication call.
In order to test the efficacy of the device shown above and to
check the effects of low power microwave field on seeds germina-
tion and plant growth, several germination experiments on two
groups of 50 seeds (reference and irradiated) were tested initially
(2014). To get representative results both in terms of statistical
and biometric measurements, the number of seeds were reached
to 61 seeds on three repeated experiments (2015), considered an
optimum number under the experimental conditions. The irradi-
ated bean seeds were compared with non-irradiated samples, dur-
ing 8 days, till the plants have grown up to 12 cm height. The bean
seeds have been preliminarily washed with distilled water in order
to eliminate the possible impurities from the surface. Groups of
seeds were placed on a support plate (Fig. 8) inside the reference
(R) and the irradiation chamber (I), with similar water dosage each
day during the 8 days of the experiment. The seeds were germi-
nated in small glass pots (Ø = 2 cm and h = 6 cm), one seed in each
52 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56

Fig. 5. The structure of one amplifier chain (860–900 MHz, 925–980 MHz) of the AP5200 microwave generator.

Fig. 6. The PAR values in the reference and irradiation chambers on three measurement planes.

Fig. 7. The microwave distribution pattern at 1 cm (left), 4 cm (middle) and 9 cm (right) above the irradiation chamber floor.

pot placed on wet cotton, covered with filter paper. The glass pots
were indexed with numbers from 1 to 61 each, and placed at a
fixed distance between them. The glass pots distribution on plate
support it is managed to correct the lighting and microwave field
inhomogeneities. Both plate supports were rotated 90° clockwise
every day of the experiment. For each indexed seed/plant, the
number of germinated seeds, the germination energy, germination,
the length of stems (SL) and roots (RL), the seedling vigor index
(SVI) and dry matter percentage (DM) where determined. To avoid
seeds drying and to maintain the humidity of the filter paper, 2 ml
water was added in the first day of the experiment and 0.2 ml peri-
odically after. Potable water with the pH = 6.5 was used during the
experimental period to adjust the minimum nutrient substances
needed for the seeds germination and growth. No other substances
 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56
Fig. 8. Indexed pots distributions (numbered left to right per row) in both
chambers (I, R) on a surface of 20  20 cm.
were added in the water and to the seeds. The experimental condi-
tions where: the natural light cycle 15 h – light/9 h – darkness, the
laboratory daily temperature variation 25 °C ± 2 °C, and the labora-
tory night temperature variation 18 °C ± 2 °C, the laboratory rela-
tive humidity interval between 20% and 40%.
In order to identify the influence of the microwave treatment on
bean seeds and plants and to check how the presented device can
be used for this purpose, the following parameters were studied:
– the number of germinated seeds, determined on each day dur-
ing 8 days, after the experiment was started;
– the germination energy [%] (GE) of the seeds, determined on the
4th day after the start of the experiment; the germination
energy (GE) of the seeds is calculated as a percent ratio, deter-
mined on the 1/2 period of the time established for
germination.
– germination (G) [%], determined on the 8th day after the start of
the experiment, as a ratio between the numbers of germinated
seeds to the total number of seeds (Aladjadjiyan, 2010). Germi-
nation of seeds presents an important role in agriculture for cal-
culating the seed requirements for a given area or desired
number of plants for the same area.
– the length [cm] of stems (SL) and roots (RL) has been deter-
mined on the 8th day after the start of the experiment;
– the seedling vigor index (SVI), determined on the 8th day of the
experiment, was calculated by determining the germination
percentage and seedling length of the same seed lot
(Arumugam et al., 2008) and can be seen in Eq. (3):
SVI ¼ ðRL þ SLÞ  G ð3Þ
– dry matter content percentage of a plant (DM) [%], (determined
by a Precisa XM 60 electronic thermo-balance with halogen
radiator and 0.01% readability on the 8th day of the experi-
ment), is expressed (4) as a percentage of the MW: moist weight
(weight value at the start of the measurement) and DW: dry
weight (weight value at the end of the measurement) (Shipley
and Vu, 2002; Total Solids-Dry Matter Content):
DM ¼ ðDW=MWÞ  100 ð4Þ
53
Basic statistics was used for emphasizing the evolution of plant
development within and without irradiated environment.
3. Results and discussion
Seeds germination is heavily influenced by the temperature,
humidity and light level inside the chambers. It is mandatory to
maintain the same difference between the temperature, humidity
and light intensity of the two chambers in order to observe any
influence of the microwave radiation on the plant germination
and growth. The experimental protocol ensures adequate moisture
for seeds, while the design of the chambers ensures good unifor-
mity throughout the growing area.
The measured temperature variation between the reference
(T1-R) and irradiation (T2-I) chambers was less than ±0.5 °C, while
the measured relative humidity difference between the reference
(RH1-R) and irradiation (RH2-I) chambers was less than ±1.5% dur-
ing eight days of experiment (Fig. 9). There was an absolute tem-
perature variation of about 2 °C and a humidity variation of
about 6% produced by the day and night cycle, but the variations
were always kept identical inside of both chambers. The light
energy had a smaller variation than ±3 lmol cm
2 s
1/week
between chambers (measured at 1 cm above the chambers floor).
The physical view of the anechoic chamber revealing the sup-
port plate and the glass pots where the seeds had been placed is
presented on Fig. 10.
The number of germinated seeds determined on each day of the
experiments, for 8 days long, was higher in the irradiated chamber
(I) than in the control chamber (R) with 12% per total, reaching a
maximum on the 6th day of the experiment.
The comparative aspect of the plants on the 8th day of the
experiment is depicted in Fig. 11.
Fig. 12 shows the evolution of seeds germination along the
experiment duration. As a quality index, germination serves to
indicate the crop value of the seeds, in various environmental con-
ditions. Therefore, the seeds take an important position in the life
of the newest plant – on the development and the vigor of the
young seedling, evolution and the maturation. A lot of events are
initiated when the dry seeds imbibe water, resulting in the end
in the emergence of the radicle, showing that germination has been
successfully completed. Counts of germinating seeds were made
starting on the first day of the imbibition (first day of the experi-
ment) and finishing when the maximum germination was consid-
ered to be achieved.
The germination energy (GE) can be defined with the speed at
which the embryo sprouts and represents the number of seeds,
on optimal environmental condition, germinated on the half
of the germination duration (4 days/8 days in our case). The
data’s for GE on three consecutive experiments with identical
experimental protocol and environment, showed significant
increase in irradiated bean seeds (72.37% average value) compared
with control treatments (61.78% average value). The percentage of
G at the end of the experiment was 93% (average value) for the
irradiated samples and 82% (average value) for the control
samples. Microwave low power field irradiation has shown a
stimulation effect.
Stems and roots growth of P. vulgaris L. seedlings are presented
on Fig. 13, for irradiated (I) and for control group (R) of seeds. At
the end of the experiments some seeds have not germinated or
developed enough to be counted. We considered as growing media
for P. vulgaris L. seedlings the water without any nutrient solutions,
to see only the effect of microwaves irradiation on the plants
development. As the ‘‘potable water growing medium” takes place
54 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56

28
36
T1-R RH1-R
27 T2-I RH2-I

Relative humidity [%]

34

Temperature [ C]
0
26 32

25 30

24 28

23 26
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time [day] Time [day]

Fig. 9. Temperature and relative humidity variations (R – reference, I – irradiation) during germination period (8 days).

Concerning P. vulgaris L. seedlings vigor index and dry matter

content, similar results were obtained. Thus higher seedlings vigor
Data logger indexes and dry matter contents were reported in batches main-
tained within irradiated environment. The difference between the
means of vigor indexes of P. vulgaris L. seedlings grown in irradiated
LED strips environment and those grown in reference environment was of
32.6%. The difference between average dry matter contents of bean
antenna
seedlings grown in irradiated environment and those grown in
RH/T sensor

Glass pot

Support plate

door cardboard

Fig. 10. The physical view of the anechoic chamber.

of the soil, the microwave field makes the difference between con-
trol and irradiated plants on the same temperature, light and
humidity.
The data’s obtained on the experiments were almost identical,
which led as to explain the statistical results only for one experi-
ment. In overall, higher stem and root P. vulgaris L. seedlings
lengths were reported in batches grown in irradiated environment.
In both cases, the differences between average lengths of seedlings
stems (3.71 cm) and average lengths of root seedlings (3.36 cm),
grown in irradiated environment were higher to those grown in Fig. 12. Effects of low power microwave irradiation on seeds germination
reference environment, and differences are statistically assured (I – irradiation chamber, R – reference chamber) on three repeated experiments
at threshold significance of 0.1% (Table 1). (E1–E3).

Fig. 11. The plants aspect on the 8th day of the experiment. Left: the reference chamber; right: the microwave irradiation chamber.
 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56 55

(horizontal lines in the boxes). Box plots height limits are 25% to
SL(I)
25 SL(R) 75% of data and bars indicate the 1.5-fold of the whole box height.
RL(I) Squares represent the mean values, and outliers (X) shows 1% and
RL(I) 99% of data. Maximum and minimum limits are indicated by (–).
20
The box-plot diagrams for stems and roots showed a similar
15
distributions of data’s between experimental batches: 12 cm for
stems, 8.5 cm for roots for irradiated environment samples and
Lenght [cm]

3 cm for stems, 3.5 cm for roots on reference samples. The mean

10
5
0
-5
Stem and root of batch samples
Fig. 13. The Box-plot diagram concerning stem and root lengths in irradiated (I)
and reference (non-irradiated) (R) chamber on the 8th day of the experiment: SL(I)
– seedlings stem length in irradiated (I) environment; SL(R) – seedlings stem length
in reference (R) environment; RL(I) – seedlings root length in irradiated (I)
environment; RL(R) – seedlings root length in reference (R) environment.
reference environment was of 5.17% (Table 1). All these differences
were statistically assured at threshold significance of 1%.
In terms of statistical significance level of 0.05, the results for all
8 groups of samples analyzed showed significantly differences for
batches from the irradiated environment.
The Box-plot diagrams emphasize the differences between the
plant development in reference and irradiated environment. The
distributions of the values are reported for seedlings stem and root
lengths (Fig. 13), and also for seedlings vigor index and dry matter
content (Fig. 14). Box-plot descriptive statistics reveals the distri-
bution of data for a single batch (reference and irradiated plants).
All values are given as mean ± SD (Table 1) and median of the data
value of the stems length in the irradiated environment was
40.2% higher than in the reference one. The root length values
showed a difference of 33.53% between the mean of the irradiated
batch samples and the reference one. There is a strong correlation
between the effects of low microwave power irradiation and the
growth of stems and roots for P. vulgaris L. (p < 0.001).
Seed vigor index were calculated using measured root and stem
length of individual seedling and germination of the same lot (for-
mula 3). The values of the SVI at the end of the experiment for irra-
diated versus reference batch of samples are significantly different.
The seeds had a better germination and growth rate in the micro-
wave irradiation chamber, and the results for SVI were better on
irradiated batch.
Fig. 14 represents box-plot distributions for seedling vigor
index (left) and dry matter content (right) at the end of the exper-
iment. The diagrams for SVI values show a better distribution for
reference batch with 3.2% than the irradiated one, but with a differ-
ence of mean values with 21.24% higher for the samples from irra-
diated chamber (1535.34) than the reference one (1209.29). This
can indicate that the low power microwave field can be a relevant
environment for plants growth.
The dry matter content is what remains from plants after the
entire drying process is finished and water is evaporated. The dry
matter is an indicator of the amount of nutrients that are available
in a plant. By analyzing data’s for DM content from irradiated batch
of samples, those had significantly higher values (p = 0.024), with a

Table 1
Basic statistics for low power microwave irradiated (I) and non-irradiated (R) batches of plants.

No. Issue N Mean Standard error of mean Standard deviation t-Test Significance p
1 Stem length I (cm) 61 9.23 0.80 6.25 +4.049 <0.001
2 Stem length R (cm) 61 5.52 0.45 3.48
3 Root length I (cm) 61 10.02 0.71 5.57 +4.034 <0.001
4 Root length R (cm) 61 6.66 0.43 3.36
5 Vigor index I 61 1535.34 96.02 749.96 +2.446 0.015
6 Vigor index R 61 1209.30 92.43 721.93
7 Dry matter I (%) 61 19.33 1.99 15.53 +2.270 0.024
8 Dry matter R (%) 61 14.16 1.10 8.61

4000 SVI(I) DM(I)

SVI(R) 80 DM(R)
3500
70
3000
Dry matter content [%]

60
Seedling vigor index

2500
50
2000
40
1500
30
1000 20

500 10

0 0

-500 -10
Batch samples Batch samples

Fig. 14. The Box-plot diagram concerning seedling vigor index (left) and dry matter content (right) on the 8th day of the experiment: SVI(I) – seedlings vigor index in
irradiated (I) environment; SVI(R) – seedlings vigor index in reference (R) environment; DM(I) – seedlings dry matter content in irradiated (I) environment; DM(R) – seedlings
dry matter content in reference (R) environment.
56 C. Viliche Balint et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 121 (2016) 48–56
mean value of 19.33% compared to reference one (14.16%). This
could be due to the accumulation of the different non-volatile sub-
stances in the plants located in low power microwave environ-
ment. The box plots for DM% (Fig. 14) shows a better distribution
on the irradiated batch of samples (14.11%) compared with the ref-
erence one (5.68%), highlighting our previous conclusion.
The statistic significance evidenced the differences between the
average values corresponding to control and exposed samples.
Plants did respond to low power electromagnetic exposure with
the experimental arrangements presented above. Getting accurate
results was not possible without carefully prepared experiments.
As shown, the equipment used in the experiment it had to be man-
ufactured since similar equipment does not exist.
4. Conclusion
A device for plant growth in low power microwave field under
controlled environment has been designed and tested in our labo-
ratory from INCDTIM Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Based on our knowl-
edge, the patented device presented for the first time in this
paper is a unique low cost anechoic chamber device equipped with
precisely environment control, which performs the humidity equi-
libration between the irradiation and reference chambers. The
device consists of two anechoic chambers, one for reference and
one for irradiation, both with the same size. The device is designed
to maintain a constant level for relative humidity (better than
±1.5% RH), temperature (better than ±0.5 °C), and light energy (bet-
ter than ±5 lmol cm
2 s
1), providing the day–night cycle by using
an embedded controller. The device has proven its reliability and
accuracy under laboratory conditions during more than five years
of operation on various experiments. The growing experiment
was developed within Laboratories of the Advanced Research Cen-
tre for Environmental Protection and Assessment of Life Quality
from USAMV Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Three experiments using
groups of 61 seeds per chamber took place during 2015. Positive
effects by using microwave irradiation on number of germinated
seeds, length of stems and roots, germination capacity seedling,
vigor index and dry matter percentage were observed on P. vulgaris
L. seedlings. The estimation for germination growth processes
showed a significant increase in irradiated bean seeds (93%), com-
pared with control treatments (82%). The optimal stimulation on
seeds development via MW irradiation occurs in the first six days
of the experiment. The microwave irradiation has a stimulatory
effect on seedling vigor index and dry matter content of plant
tissue.
It has been demonstrated that the plant irradiation device is an
effective and versatile instrument which may be adapted to vari-
ous research purposes. The device environment configuration
enables researchers to conduct simultaneously experiments with
different plants at varying levels of maturity. However, future
research is needed to determine whether this innovative technique
for plant growth stimulation in low power microwave field by
using anechoic chambers with environment control induces bio-
chemical, physiological, anatomical and morphological changes
in plants.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Executive
Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innova-
tion Funding (UEFSCDI) and the National Authority for Scientific
Research and Innovation (ANCSI), through the Project No. POS-
DRU/159/1.5/S/132765 and partially by the Project No. PN-II-RU-
PD-2012-3-0050 and Project No. PN09-440218 – Nucleu INCDTIM
Cluj-Napoca.
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