Different kinds caused different effects. Plants responded best to classical and Indian devotional music.In a controlled environment, plants exposed to these kinds of music had lush and abundant growth and good root development.
Exposure to country music or silence brought about no abnormal growth reaction, while jazz produced more abundant growth.
Plants that listened to rock did pretty poorly, showing signs that they were in the dying stage. Plants exposed solely to white noise died quickly.
Recently, researchers have found genes in rice that are expressed more strongly when listening to Beethoven's Midnight Sonata. The results of these studies suggests that plants can somehow "hear."
It was further found that the genes were more active when exposed to frequencies from 125Hz to 250Hz, while the genes were less responsive to frequencies of 50Hz.
Some are skeptical of the result, though. Several different factors could have led to the genes being more expressive. Wind is an example. The study took into account sunlight by experimenting in light and darkness, so that was ruled out.
