Further Data on Wheat Germination and Silver Nitrate: Low and Medium Dilutions

Background: In pilot studies (GIRI 2016, HRI 2015), wheat grains were observed under aqueous low solutions of silver nitrate, either diluted in distilled water in steps of 1:10 by pipetting only (“e”) or diluted and agitated (“x”). Untreated distilled water served as additional control (W0). Probes were applied blindly. Germination rates after 28h were higher under “x” than under “e” (p < 0.01 in both studies). System stability was tested and found adequate (GIRI 2018), silver nitrate concentrations were measured and found correctly prepared (GIRI 2019), and it was shown that agitated water did not lead to enhanced germination versus non-agitated water, thus excluding the possibility of an effect of higher oxygen saturation in x-probes (GIRI 2018).

Aim: Following up on the pilot studies, the aim was to investigate the influence of silver nitrate on wheat germination at low (10⁻² to 10⁻¹⁰) and medium (10⁻¹¹ to 10⁻²⁴) dilutions.

Method: Experiments were performed in Austria (10⁻² to 10⁻¹⁰) and Germany (10⁻² to 10⁻²⁴). Experimental conditions were as similar as possible to those in the pilot study, apart from the fact that silver nitrate 10⁻² (not 10⁻¹) served as mother tincture.

Result: After 28h, germination rates (N grains = 2200) were 54.5±16.04% of W0 probes, 44.76±17.16% of e-probes (N = 9100) and 48.12±17.41% of x-probes (N = 9100). Germination rates were thus higher under x than under e, surpassing the e-values by 7.5% for the overall pooled data (10⁻² to 10⁻²⁴) (p < 0.01), and by +6.7% for 10⁻² to 10⁻¹⁰, +8.2% for 10⁻¹¹ to 10⁻¹⁷, and +13.7% for 10⁻¹⁸ to 10⁻²⁴.

Conclusion: The experiments suggest that agitation of molecular probes can have effects that would also deserve consideration in mainstream biology and medicine.

Keywords: Low dilution, silver nitrate, wheat

No conflict of interest has been declared by the author(s).