Magnetic water treatment is considered as one of many techniques used worldwide that affects plant growth and development. This study examines whether there are beneficial effects of magnetic treatment of irrigation water on yield and water productivity as well as water saving. Three experiments were performed involving three crops (eggplant, faba beans and tomato) with different salinity tolerance thresholds EC w 0.7, 1.1 and 1.7 dS/m, respectively. Two types of irrigation water were applied magnetically treated and non-magnetically treated. The experiments were carried out at Wadi EL Natroon station of Water Management Research Institute, El-Behira Governorate, Egypt during two sequentially winter seasons of 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 in a complete randomized design analysis with four replicates. There was a decrease of pH of the soil irrigated with magnetically treated water (MTW) compared with the non-MTW. The pH reached neutral values in some locations, especially the area cultivated with the faba beans (pH between 7.05 and 7.08). Results showed significant increases of water productivity for the MTW compared with non-MTW equal to 1.65, 1.88 and 1.78 for eggplant, faba beans and tomato, respectively. It was also observed that the MTW affected the amounts of irrigation water added to different crops during its growing period. The percentages of water savings were 11%, 13.5% and 14.2% for eggplant, faba beans and tomato, respectively. As a result the net return increased by 1.97, 3.0 and 2.45 for the three crops, respectively.

The current study investigates two modern irrigation systems, (i.e. surface and sub-surface trickle irrigation systems). It was applied in Wadi El-Natron Experimental Station, which represents the new lands condition and it was applied on active pea crop. Three different emitter's discharges equal to 2, 4 and 8 l/h and two irrigation systems were evaluated based on six indicators, (i.e. yield, water application, water consumption, water use efficiency, soil moisture and salt patterns). Both investigated systems were tested under two conditions (i.e. 100% and 50% of the net crop water requirements). The results indicated a privilege for using sub-surface trickle irrigation system (i.e. according to the different indicators). The sub-surface trickle irrigation system had higher yield, higher Water Use Efficiency, lower water application and water consumption compared to surface trickle irrigation when 100% of the net crop water requirements and 4 l/h emitter discharge were used. Also, this system gave sufficient available water and best distribution of moisture in the root zone. It was thus recommended to use the above conditions, under sandy soil, to achieve the lowest water application, water consumption, highest crop yield and water use efficiency.

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