Homeopathy & strawberries

dynamised high dilutions as biostimulants

The use of mineral dynamised high dilutions for natural plant biostimulation; effects on plant growth, crop production, fruit quality, pest and disease incidence in agroecological strawberry cultivation.

Leonardo Faedo, Caroline Matias, Rovier Verdi, Julia Wright, Francis Rayans, Aike Kretzschmar & Pedro Boff.¹

This randomised double-blinded trial involved nine treatments and nine repetitions - 81 experimental units in total, and was replicated. The strawberry cultivar Pircinque was used in this greenhouse experiment as it is widely grown by local (Southern Brazil) organic strawberry farmers.

The objective of this study was to assess the plant biostimulation effects of strawberry plants treated with mineral dynamised high dilutions (DHDs).

Strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa) are one of the most important fruit crops worldwide.

Most of the strawberries that are produced today rely on the use of pesticides and fungicides, leading the crop to be listed as one of the most contaminated by contentious inputs.

Plant biostimulants are used as a plant health strategy focused on stimulating plant growth and development with a low residual impact. The treatments and potency used in this study were selected based on results of previous studies testing DHDs biostimulatory effects on plants.²³

The mineral origin DHDs tested in this study were:

• Calcarea carbonica 12CH (calcium carbonate; Calc 12CH),

• Kali carbonicum 12CH (potassium carbonate; Kali 12CH),

• Mercurius solubilis 12CH (metallic mercury; Merc 12CH),

• Natrun muriaticun 12CH (sodium chloride; Natu 12CH),

• Phosphorus 12CH (elemental phosphorus; Phos 12CH),

• Sulphur 12CH (elemental sulphur; Sulp 12CH),

• Silicea terra 12CH (silicon oxide; Sili 12CH),

• Potentized distilled water 12CH (HD 12CH) and distilled water as the control.

The experiment was undertaken under greenhouse conditions at the University of Santa Catarina State (UDESC), in Lages, Santa Catarina (SC), Brazil in 2019 and was repeated in 2021 at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), in Curitibanos, SC.

Using a randomised block design and following double-blind treatment application, the results showed plants treated with DHDs of Sulphur 12CH, Phosphorus 12CH and Kali carbonicum 12CH increased plant growth and crop yield and were less affected by leaf spot disease (Mycosphaerella fragariae). Plants treated with Silicea terra 12CH, or with Calcarea carbonica 12CH showed increased development of the root system.

The results obtained suggested that mineral DHDs could be used as plant biostimulants to support agroecological strawberry production.

Conclusions

‘‘ The results of this research undertaken in greenhouse conditions provided evidence that dynamised high dilutions (DHDs) can perform positively as agroecological plant biostimulants for strawberry crops (Fragaria × ananassa).

The results suggested that mineral DHDs of Sulphur 12CH, Kali carbonicum 12CH and Phosphorus 12CH increased the yield, plant height, crown diameter, leaf chlorophyll content and production of stolons in the strawberry plants.

In addition, DHDs of Silicea terra 12CH and Calcarea carbonica 12CH had positive influence on the development and architecture of the strawberry root system, particularly the volume of the roots as well as the root diameter and surface.

The potency 12CH used in this study showed positive results for plant biostimulation and can be used as a reference for other studies testing DHDs in other crops.

However, many variables still remain to be tested, including different potencies and lengths and frequencies of treatment. For future studies, treatments which obtained positive results should be tested over more cycles under field conditions to expand the data set and comparisons.

The results of this study presented an innovative method to be used and tested by growers and researchers globally, particularly for those interested on investigating plant health and sustainable alternatives for the crop cultivation.

Furthermore, the use of DHDs as plant biostimulants supported the strawberry plants to achieve appropriate crop vitality and resilience, increased yields and promoted natural plant development.

The use of DHDs offers a health centred approach to agriculture focusing on ecological principles and low residual impact methods for the management of strawberry cropping systems with potential application to other crops. ‘‘ ⁴

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SEE ALSO

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‘In contrast to frequent claims, the available meta analyses of homoeopathy in placebo-controlled randomised trials for any indication show significant positive effects beyond placebo. Compared to other medical interventions, the quality of evidence for efficacy of homoeopathy was similar or higher than for 90% of interventions across medicine. Accordingly, the efficacy evidence from placebo-controlled randomised trials provides no justification for regulatory or political actions against homoeopathy in health-care systems.’⁵

1. Faedo, L., Matias, C., Verdi, R., Wright, J., Rayns, F., Kretzschmar, A., & Boff, P. (2024). The use of mineral dynamised high dilutions for natural plant biostimulation; effects on plant growth, crop production, fruit quality, pest and disease incidence in agroecological strawberry cultivation. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, 40(4), 267–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/01448765.2024.2396894

2. Kaviraj VD. 2018. Homeopathy for farm and Garden: the homeopathic treatment of plants. Germany: Narayana Kandern; p. 332. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2018&pages=332&author=VD+Kaviraj&title=Homeopathy+for+farm+and+Garden%3A+the+homeopathic+treatment+of+plants

3. Boff P, Verdi R, Faedo LF. 2021. Homeopathy applied to agriculture: theoretical and practical considerations with examples from Brazil. In: W. Julia, editor. Subtle agroecologies, 1st ed. London (UK): Wright, J. CRC Press; p. 145–154. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2021&pages=145-154&author=P+Boff&author=R+Verdi&author=LF+Faedo&title=Homeopathy+applied+to+agriculture%3A+theoretical+and+practical+considerations+with+examples+from+Brazil

4. Faedo, L., Matias, C., Verdi, R., Wright, J., Rayns, F., Kretzschmar, A., & Boff, P. (2024). The use of mineral dynamised high dilutions for natural plant biostimulation; effects on plant growth, crop production, fruit quality, pest and disease incidence in agroecological strawberry cultivation. Biological Agriculture & Horticulture, 40(4), 267–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/01448765.2024.2396894

5. Hamre HJ, Glockmann A, von Ammon K, Riley DS, Kiene H. Efficacy of homoeopathic treatment: Systematic review of meta-analyses of randomised placebo-controlled homoeopathy trials for any indication. Systematic Rev. 2023 Oct 7;12(1):191. https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-023-02313-2#Abs1