The Effects of Taurine on Plants

About Taurine

• Taurine, in humans, helps to keep the level of mineral salts and water balanced in the blood. It also assists in neurological development and has antioxidant properties. It is an abundant chemical, with a 150-pound person having up to 2.5 ounces of taurine in his body. While humans have a limited ability to synthesize taurine, some animals, like cats, have lost that ability completely, indicating a diet rich in the compound.

Taurine's Effects on Wheat

• In the "Journal of Plant Physiology and Molecular Biology" (October 30, 2004), Chinese scientists reported that "taurine treatments distinctly promoted the growth of wheat seedlings and increased root length, plant height, dry weight and fresh weight" on a single plant of wheat seedlings. They grew the seedlings in solutions containing 10, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 milligrams per liter, and found that the optimum concentration was about 500 milligrams per liter.

Taurine's Effects on Algae

• In "Plant Physiology," the journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists (June 1997), J. T. Wang and A. E. Douglas reported that taurine stimulated the production of photosynthates (compounds produced by photosynthesis) in an alga, a dinoflagellate isolated from a sea anemone. Though this study did not use a land plant, this would indicate potential, possible benefits to other plants.

Possibilities

• Since taurine's effects on plants have not been studied extensively, home gardeners might contribute some useful information by doing their own experiments. Taurine is a non-toxic, readily available substance that could be added to a watering can. If you decide to try it, keep records of how much you use and, if possible, keep a group of plants watered without taurine as a control group.