On the basis of our previous pilot tests with
a TV set we have carried out series of tests on the growth and germination
of spruce seeds Picea abies which proved to be susceptible to weak electromagnetic
fields: at 35 cm in front of the TV set - E max 24 V/m, B max 270 nT at
16 kHz and E max 800 V/m, B max 1500 nT at 50 Hz; at 90 cm in front of
the TV set - E 0.1 V/m, B max 14 nT at 16 kHz and E max 12 V/m, B max 100
nT at 50 Hz. Owing to prolonged (pre)imbibition for 2 days (the B system,
mild water stress) the effects on the seeds were the most obvious: the
average lengths of radicles were significantly higher (from 27 to 52% at
35 cm, from 16 to 59% at 90 cm) than in the control groups. In 4 experiments
with the normally imbibed seeds (the N system) the average lengths were
significantly lower (by -20 to -12% at 35 cm, by -19 to -14% at 90 cm)
against the control. There were no such differences in two control experiments
without the TV set or with the set turned off.
The more pronounced effects on the B system indicates
that plant seedlings in different physiological states have different susceptibility
to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) even to the point of the opposite polarity,
suggesting that besides power and frequency windows we may also have the
physiological ones. Otherwise, the effects were more conspicuous at shorter
distances with the B system while the N system revealed no such preferences.