Effect of Magnetic Water Treatment on the Growth, Nutritional Status, and Yield of Lettuce Plants with Irrigation Rate

Abstract

Climate change is causing an increase in dry spells, altering rainfall patterns and soil moisture, and affecting water and nutrient plant uptake, which inevitably affects vegetable production. To mitigate this issue, some technologies that allow the maintenance of the ideal soil moisture for the uptake process are being investigated. Considering this, we hypothesize that the use of water treated with a magnetic field can increase water use efficiency in lettuce crop production. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the irrigation rate of magnetically treated water on biomass accumulation and nutrient uptake by lettuce plants. An experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with a 2 × 5 factorial arrangement of two water sources (conventional water and magnetically treated water) and five irrigation application rates to replace crop evaporation: 25, 50, 75, 100, and 125%, with five replicates. The use of magnetically treated water increased the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in leaves, meaning that it induced higher nitrogen assimilation, leading to increases in agronomical characteristics (leaf number, fresh and dry shoot weight, fresh and dry root weight). The conclusions of this study showcase that magnetically treated water has beneficial effects on lettuce plants, improving their nutritional status and yield. Moreover, the results presented can lead to an increase in water use efficiency, thus optimizing irrigation management.

Fuzzy Modeling Development for Lettuce Plants Irrigated with Magnetically Treated Water

“…The increase in production parameters found in lettuce irrigated with magnetically treated water corroborates several surveys that describe technology with a high potential of reducing the volume of water applied, such as in the cultivation of celery, green beans and peas [60]; chickpeas [61]; castor beans [62]; corn [63]; tobacco [64]; peas [65]; tomatoes [66,67]; wheat [68]; and pepper [69]. Putti et al [70] also reported the beneficial effects of magnetically treated water on lettuce plants due to improvement in nutritional status and yield. However, when lettuce was irrigated with magnetically treated water, among the parameters analyzed, the leaf number and fresh shoot biomass showed a significant reduction along the crop cycle, reaching the same values when lettuce was irrigated with conventional water.…”

Effect of Magnetic Strength of the Water Salinity Treatment Devices on Salt Accumulation in the Root Zoon and Its Impact on Growth and Productivity of Olive Trees

“…Further studies may be needed to explore the long-term effects of magnetic water treatment on soil pH dynamics and its implications for plant growth and nutrient availability. Some studies have indeed reported slight increases in soil pH following magnetic water treatment [42,43] and other studies reported a reduction of the pH in the soil with magnetic treatment [44].…”