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INVESTIGATION OF THE KIRLIAN PHENOMENON IN INSECTICIDE TREATED PLANTS

Prepared by:

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INVESTIGATION OF THE KIRLIAN PHENOMENON IN INSECTICIDE TREATED PLANTS

INTRODUCTION

The Thas conducted an investigation of the Kirlian photographic technique in an attempt to detect the presence of a commercial soil insecticide brand Dyfonate) in various species of plants. Dyfonate is a 5% granular organo-phosphorus soil insectide, said to be a non-systemic agent. The insecticide.solution was poured over each leaf and ultimately accumulated in the soil of the individual pot.

Vibrator excited, dampened high-voltage pulses were applied to radishes, pinto beans, and harvester beans in the Kirlian camera. Color pictures were taken of plants in the untreated control group, low dosage and high dosage groups at interva\_s of one, two and four days after exposure.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The photographs appear to show no gross changes from dlay to day or between control a.d the two treated groups. This result does not necessarily indicate that the Kirlian technique is incapable of detecting this organo-phosphorous insecticide since spectroscopic analysis was not carried out. Also, if the agent is truly non-systemic, large·concentrations would not be expected on the leaves. Further investigation using systemic insecticides such as Di Syston or Furadan could have positive results when applied in a carefully controlled test.

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A high voltage oscillator was designed and constructed to be used in the Kirlian camera. The schematic is as follows:

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Test Procedure and Resulty

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The output of the Kirlian apparatus is a critically dampened pulse with peak amplitudcs of abou: -4 KV and + 3 KV. Pulse width is about l00us and pulse repctition frcquency about 100 pulses per second.

Twelve randomly selected plants from an initial plantirg of 50 were grouped as follows:

No insecticide was given the control group. Each plant in the low dose group received 2.5 cc of 5% chemical in aqueous solution. Each plant in the high

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Plant identificazion number

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dosc group received 25 cc of 5% insecticide in the same manner. The insecticiic solution was poured on every leaf and on as much of the stem as possible for the two treated groups. The age of the plants at the start of the test were as follows:

The control and treated plants were photographed on.the first, second and fourth day following exposure. In addition, the contro, group was photographed the day the treatment group was exposed.

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LOW DOSE GROUP

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IICH DOSE GROUP

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12 July 1972

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14 July 1972

Plant Damaged

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14 July 1972

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