Controlled Electromagnetic and Electrical Stimulation of the Agricultural Root Zone: A Testable Framework for Investigating Plant Growth, Stress Responses and Crop Protection

Agricultural productivity is determined by the interaction of plant genetics, soil chemistry, water availability, nutrient supply, environmental conditions, microorganisms, pests and plant pathogens. Beyond these conventional variables, plants possess endogenous electrical signalling systems and are continuously exposed to the Earth's geomagnetic field. A body of experimental literature indicates that externally applied electric and magnetic fields can influence selected aspects of germination, growth, ion transport, photosynthetic performance and oxidative-stress physiology, but reported responses depend strongly on species, field strength, exposure duration, waveform, frequency and experimental setting, and the literature contains inconsistent and non-replicating results. This paper proposes a scientifically testable framework for investigating a controlled agricultural stimulation system that combines electrical potential, current density, frequency-modulated stimulation and an independently measured magnetic field within the plant root-zone environment. The framework does not assume that electromagnetic stimulation universally increases crop yield or reduces pesticide requirement. It instead specifies measurable hypotheses linking externally controlled physical fields to plant electrophysiology, ion transport, calcium-associated signalling, reactive oxygen species and antioxidant responses, root development, rhizosphere processes and plant defence. The central hypothesis is that appropriately controlled physical stimulation may act as an abiotic signal capable of modifying selected physiological and biochemical pathways in plants. A secondary hypothesis is that some field regimes may influence plant-microorganism-pathogen interactions and thereby contribute to reduced disease or pest pressure. Both hypotheses require laboratory, greenhouse and replicated field experiments before any agronomic or crop-protection claim can be made. A proposed experimental platform is described at methods level, in which electric field strength, current density, magnetic flux density, frequency, waveform, exposure duration, soil conductivity, moisture, pH and temperature are independently measured and controlled. The proposed design comprises untreated controls, sham controls, magnetic-only, electric-only and combined-field arms, with an optional reduced-pesticide arm, together with quantitative measurement of plant growth, yield in kg/hectare, nutrient composition, photosynthesis, electrophysiology, soil chemistry, microbial communities and pest/pathogen populations. Explicit falsification criteria, an eight-level evidence hierarchy, a limitations section and a safety and environmental assessment are given. The framework is offered as a basis for disciplined investigation, and is written to maintain a strict distinction between established scientific knowledge, experimentally supported observations, and hypotheses requiring validation. Status: hypothesis and theory paper, version 1.0. No experimental data have been generated and the platform described in Section 5 is proposed, not built. No yield improvement, quality improvement or pesticide reduction is claimed. The framework described here was first publicly disclosed by the author in an article published on LinkedIn on 12 September 2026; the present paper is a formally structured and referenced version of that disclosure. Competing interests The author is an electronics engineer and the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Rohera Healthcare & Technology Pvt. Ltd., Pune, India, which develops and markets eMedica, a device combining electrical stimulation with other energy modalities and physiological sensing. He is the named inventor and holder of granted patents relating to that device, and also holds patents in unrelated energy-storage and vehicle-power fields. He therefore has a financial and intellectual interest in the field of applied bioelectricity. A granted patent establishes novelty and inventive step before a patent office; it is not evidence of efficacy, and nothing in this record should be read as such. This working paper proposes a research framework for applying electrical and electromagnetic stimulation in an application area adjacent to the author's commercial field. It reports no experiment of the author's own, and it claims no effect on yield, plant health or pesticide requirement. A reader should weigh the author's interest when judging which hypotheses the paper chooses to advance and how promising it makes them sound. Any effect proposed here remains preliminary and requires independent experimental validation. Funding This work received no external, grant or institutional funding. It was funded by the author, through his companies. Self-funding is declared here as a competing interest rather than as the absence of one: no external sponsor, grant reviewer or independent body reviewed, constrained or verified this work at any stage. Use of AI-assisted tools A large language model (Claude, Anthropic) was used for literature retrieval, verification of citation metadata against indexed records, and drafting assistance. The author directed the work, reviewed and edited all content, and takes full responsibility for it. No AI tool is an author. This declarations block was added on 18 September 2026 as a metadata edit, so that it is visible on the record page and not only inside the deposited file. The deposited file and the substance of the record are unchanged, and the DOI is unchanged.