Research in Progress on Adding Ethanol to Vegetables to Help Them Grow in High Temperature Environments

Recently NHK News on-line reported the following:

野菜に“エタノール”与え気温高い環境でも成長させる研究進む

2025年8月1日 19時31分

記録的な暑さの影響で野菜の不作や品質の低下が問題となる中、理化学研究所の研究グループは野菜にアルコールの1種「エタノール」を与えることで、気温が高い環境でも安定して成長させる研究を進めています。

農林水産省によりますと、暑い日が続くと、キャベツなど葉物野菜の成長が止まったり、トマトの実がならなかったりとさまざまな農作物に影響が出るため、生産量の減少や品質の低下が懸念されています。

暑さに強い野菜の栽培方法を研究している理化学研究所・環境資源科学研究センターの関原明チームディレクターのグループは植物にアルコールの1種「エタノール」を根から吸わせたり、葉の上から噴霧したりすると気温が高い環境でも安定して成長することを突き止めました。

研究グループの実験では、ミニトマトに0.1％ほどに薄めたエタノール液を吸わせたあと、50度の気温に数時間さらして成長をみたところ、水だけを与えた場合と比べて、葉が大きく育ち、実の数も3倍以上になったということです。

さらにエタノールを与えたさまざまな植物を分析したところ、高温から細胞を守るたんぱく質の増加が見られたり、葉や実などに含まれる糖分が増えたりといった変化がみられたということで、研究グループは、エタノールには、厳しい暑さの中でも植物が育つ能力を引き出す効果があるとしています。

関チームディレクターは、「手に入りやすいエタノールを、希釈して与えるだけという簡単にできる方法なので、さらに研究を進めて世界に広めることで、異常な猛暑による農業の問題を少しでも緩和していきい」と話しています。

 

枝豆 エタノールを与えて栽培 生産会社は

静岡県菊川市で枝豆を生産する会社では、去年の夏の暑さの影響で7月下旬以降、7割ほど収穫量が減ったことから、ことしから希釈したエタノールを与えて栽培する新たな対策を取り入れました。

会社では、暑さが本格化したことし7月から枝豆を育てている畑に7％ほどのエタノール液を、10日おきにドローンで散布しています。

その結果、畑10アール当たりおよそ730キロの収穫があったということで、散布しないで栽培した場合と比べ面積当たりの収穫量は2倍程度になったということです。

また、収穫期までの期間も4日ほど短縮されたということです。

枝豆を生産する会社の深川知久社長は、「期待以上の結果が得られた。暑さに左右されることなく、計画的な栽培が可能となり、経営上も大きなメリットだ。今後、この暑さや乾燥と付き合いながら農業をする1つの答えではないか」と話していました。

Translation

Research in Progress on Adding Ethanol to Vegetables to Help Them Grow in High Temperature Environments

Amid concerns about poor harvests and declining quality due to record-breaking heat, a research group at the RIKEN Institute was conducting research to add ethanol, a type of alcohol, to vegetables to help them grow steadily even in high temperatures.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, prolonged hot weather could affect a variety of agricultural crops, such as halting the growth of leafy vegetables like cabbage and preventing tomatoes from bearing fruit, raising concerns about reduced production and declining quality.

A group led by Team Director Motoaki Seki (関原明)of the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science which was researching on methods to cultivate heat-tolerant vegetables had discovered that allowing plants to absorb ethanol, a type of alcohol, through their roots or spraying it on their leaves could allow them to grow steadily even in high temperatures.

In their experiment, the research group made cherry tomatoes to absorb some 0.1% diluted ethanol solution and then exposed them to temperatures of 50°C for several hours. The results showed that compared to plants given only water, their leaves grew larger and they produced more than three times as many fruits.

Further analysis of various plants given ethanol revealed changes such as an increase in proteins that protect cells from high temperatures and an increase in sugar content in the leaves and fruits. The research group concluded that ethanol enhances plants' ability to grow even in extreme heat.

Team Director Seki said, "This method is simple; all you have to do is dilute readily available ethanol and give it to plants. By furthering our research and spreading it around the world, we hope to alleviate the agricultural problems caused by extreme heat, even only a little bit."

 

Edamame Soybeans Cultivated with Ethanol: Production Company

A company that produced edamame soybeans in Kikugawa City of Shizuoka Prefecture saw its harvest drop by about 70% in late July last summer due to the heat, so this year they adopted a new strategy of cultivating plants with diluted ethanol.

As the heat intensified, since July the company had been using drones to spray a 7% ethanol solution every 10 days on the fields where they grew edamame beans.

As a result, they were able to harvest approximately 730 kg from 10 measures of fields, which in comparation was about double the yield from similar size using cultivation without spraying.

The time until the harvest had also been shortened by about four days.

Tomohisa Fukagawa (深川知久), president of the edamame producing company, said, "We have achieved results that exceeded our expectations. We can now plan cultivation without being affected by the heat, which is a major benefit from a business perspective. We believe this is one way to farm while dealing with heat and dryness in the future."

So, amid concerns about poor harvests and declining quality due to record-breaking heat, a research group at the RIKEN Institute is conducting research to add ethanol, a type of alcohol, to help vegetables grow steadily even in high temperatures. Apparently, this could be one way to do farming when dealing with heat and dryness. It is good news to farmers.

Note:

1. 理化学研究所, in short known as 理研 (in English: stylized in all caps as RIKEN) is a national scientific research institute in Japan. Founded in 1917, it now has about 3,000 scientists on seven campuses across Japan, including the main site at Wakō, Saitama Prefecture, on the outskirts of Tokyo. (Wikipedia)

2. アール is a measurement of area (100 sq.m.)​ adopted from French.