Homeopathic treatment of cucumber seeds contaminated with auxinic herbicide
Tratamiento homeopático de semillas de pepino contaminadas con herbicida auxínico
Ricardo Adriano-Felito, Oscar Mitsuo-Yamashita, Wagner Gervazio, Marco Antonio Camillo de Carvalho, Ivone Vieira da Silva, Aureane Cristina Teixeira Ferreira-Cândido
(Google translated): The objective of the present study was to investigate the use of homeopathic preparations to reduce the harmful effects caused by the residues of auxin herbicides in seed germination and early development of cucumber seedlings. The statistical design was completely by chance (DIC) in a 3x5+2 factorial scheme, with four repetitions. The treatments were the combination of three homeopathic preparations (Nux vomica, Carbo vegetabilis and Arsenicum album), in five dinamizaciones centesimal (6CH; 12CH; 18CH; 24CH and 30CH), plus the controls (T0= distilled water and TH= herbicide (Artys ™) without homeopathic treatment). Each experimental unit consisted of transparent acrylic boxes (Gerbox™) with 25 seeds of cucumber, distributed in two paper sheets for germination and moistened with homeopathic treatments. The experimental units were kept in a DBO germination chamber (controlled environment at 25 ºC and 12 h of light). On the tenth day after the installation of the experiment, the following variables were evaluated: percentage of germination, length of shoots, length of roots, phytointoxication, percentage of dead seedlings and total dry mass. The homeopathic treatment of cucumber seedlings contaminated with picloram + 2,4-D herbicide (Artys™) causes positive changes, causing interesting effects on seed germination, but it is not efficient for the total neutralization of the effect caused by the picloram herbicide + 2,4-D and development of early cucumber seedlings. However, for some variables the results are not conclusive with the preparations (Nux vomica, Carbo vegetabilis and Arsenicum album) and their ultradilutions (6CH, 12CH, 18CH, 24CH and 30CH), requiring further investigation to evaluate and describe the complexity of properties inherent in homeopathic treatment.
Keywords: agroecology, family farming, high dilutions, phytointoxication.