Physical, Thermal, and Spectroscopic Characterization of Biofield Energy Treated Murashige and Skoog Plant Cell Culture Media

The Murashige and Skoog medium (MS media) is a chemically defined and widely used as a growth medium for plant tissue culture techniques. The present study was attempted to evaluate the impact of biofield energy treatment on the physical, thermal, and spectral properties of MS media. The study was performed in two groups; one was kept as control while another was subjected to Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment and coded as treated group. Afterward, both the control and treated samples were analyzed using various analytical techniques. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed 19.92% decrease in the crystallite size of treated sample with respect to the control. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed the increase in onset temperature of thermal degradation (Tonset) by 9.41% and 10.69% in first and second steps of thermal degradation, respectively after the biofield energy treatment as compared to the control. Likewise, Tmax (maximum thermal degradation temperature) was increased by 17.43% and 28.61% correspondingly in the first and second step of thermal degradation in the treated sample as compared to the control. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis indicated the 143.51% increase in the latent heat of fusion of the treated sample with respect to the control sample. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) spectrum of treated MS media showed the alteration in the frequency such as 3165→3130 cm-1 (aromatic C-H stretching); 2813→2775 cm-1 (aliphatic C-H stretching); 1145→1137 cm-1 (C-N stretching), 995→1001 cm-1 (S=O stretching), etc. in the treated sample with respect to the control. The UV spectra of control and treated MS media showed the similar absorbance maxima (λmax) i.e. at 201 and 198 nm, respectively. The XRD, TGA-DTG, DSC, and FT-IR results suggested that Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment has the impact on physical, thermal, and spectral properties of the MS media. As a result, the treated MS media could be more stable than the control, and might be used as better media in the plant tissue culture technique.

The XRD study revealed the crystalline nature of both the control and treated samples. Moreover, the crystallite size of biofield treated sample was significantly decreased (19.92%) as compared to the control. This might be due to the fracturing of grains into sub grains caused by biofield induced lattice strain in the treated MS media. The TGA-DTG study revealed the considerable increase of Tonset in treated sample by 9.41% (in first step) and 10.69% (in second step) as compared to the control. Similarly, Tmax was increased by 17.43% and 28.61% in first and second steps of thermal degradation, respectively in the treated sample as compared to the control. This showed the increase in the thermal stability of treated sample with respect to the control. The DSC analysis showed the 143.51% increase in the latent heat of fusion of treated sample as compared to the control sample. The FT-IR spectral analysis showed the alteration in the vibrational frequency of functional groups such as aromatic and aliphatic C-H, C=C, C-N, and S=O in the treated sample with respect to the control. This might be due to alteration in the force constant or dipole moment of respective groups in treated sample as compared to the control.

Based on these results, it is suggested that Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment has the significant impact on the physical, thermal and spectral properties of MS media. As a result, the treated MS media could be utilized as a better medium in the plant tissue culture.