Effects of magnetically treated water on germination and growth of tomato (<i>Lycopersicon esculentum</i>: Variety uc82b) under poor soil fertility and deficit irrigation

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of magnetically treated water on the survival of tomato plant after germination and growth of the tomato plant under deficit irrigation and poor soil fertility. The soil used in this study was sieved through 2 mm sieve to have a uniform soil particle sizes and to remove some organic matter that was yet to decompose. Water from the University of Ilorin dam was used for irrigating the tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum: variety UC82B) plant. The water was allowed to pass through magnetic treatment pipe for duration of 113 s. The mean magnetic flux density used was 719 gauss (G) measured inside the pipe. The treatments (T1 to T5) were 100 %, 80 %, 60 %, 50 % and 40 % of the water requirement by tomato and each treatment was replicated 5 times. Experimental layout used in this study was a completely randomized design (CRD) with a control experiment set up adjacent to it in the same transparent garden shed. The results showed that tomato plant irrigated with magnetically-treated water exhibited resistance to water stress, poor soil fertility and fungal attack with 52 % surviving after germination while only 24 % of tomato plants survived after irrigation with non–magnetically treated water. The heights of tomato plants using the treated water with T1 to T5 were 548 mm, 381 mm, 342 mm, 301 mm and 286 mm, respectively while those of untreated water were 512 mm, 365 mm, 326 mm, 298 mm and 264 mm, respectively.

Keywords: irrigation, magnetically treated water, magnetic water, tomato