B.L. Maheshwari and H.S. Grewal report that their study examines whether there are any beneficial effects of magnetic treatment of different irrigation water types on water productivity and yield of snow pea, celery and pea plants. Replicated pot experiments involving magnetically treated and non-magnetically treated potable water (tap water), recycled water and saline water (500 ppm and 1,000 ppm NaCl for snow peas, 1,500 ppm and 3,000 ppm for celery and peas) were conducted in glasshouse under controlled environmental conditions during April 2007 to December 2008 period at University of Western Sydney, Richmond Campus (Australia). A magnetic treatment device with its magnetic field in the range of 3.5 to 136 mT was used for the magnetic treatment of irrigation water.
The analysis of the data collected during the study suggests that the effects of magnetic treatment varied with plant type and the type of irrigation water used, and there were statistically significant increases in plant yield and water productivity (kg of fresh or dry produce per kL of water used). In particular, the magnetic treatment of recycled water and 3,000 ppm saline water respectively increased celery yield by 12% and 23% and water productivity by 12% and 24%. For snow peas, there were 7.8%, 5.9% and 6.0% increases in pod yield with magnetically treated potable water, recycled water and 1,000 ppm saline water, respectively. The water productivity of snow peas increased by 12%, 7.5% and 13% respectively for magnetically treated potable water, recycled water and 1,000 ppm saline water.
On the other hand, there was no beneficial effect of magnetically treated irrigation water on the yield and water productivity of peas. There was also no significant effect of magnetic treatment of water on the total water used by any of the three types of vegetable plants tested in this study. But the potential of the magnetic treatment of irrigation water for crop production needs to be further tested.
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