Spring irrigation with magnetized water affects soil water-salt distribution, emergence, growth, and photosynthetic characteristics of cotton seedlings in Southern Xinjiang, China

Abstract

Background Spring irrigation with freshwater is widely used to reduce soil salinity and increase the soil water content in arid areas. However, this approach requires a huge amount of freshwater, which is problematic given limited freshwater resources. Utilizing brackish water for spring irrigation in combination with magnetized water technology may be a promising alternative strategy. Results The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of four spring irrigation methods (freshwater spring irrigation (FS), magnetized freshwater spring irrigation (MFS), brackish water spring irrigation (BS), and magnetized brackish water spring irrigation (MBS)) on soil water and salt distribution, emergence, growth, and photosynthetic characteristics of cotton seedlings. The results showed that for both freshwater and brackish water, magnetized water irrigation can increase the soil water content for improved desalination effect of irrigation water. Additionally, spring irrigation with magnetized water promoted cotton emergence and seedling growth. Compared with FS treatment, cotton finial emergence rate, emergence index, vigor index, plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area index of MFS treatment increased by 6.25, 7.19, 12.98, 15.60, 8.91, and 20.57%, respectively. Compared with BS treatment, cotton finial emergence rate, emergence index, vigor index, plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area index of MBS treatment increased by 27.78, 39.83, 74.79, 26.40, 14.01, and 57.22%, respectively. Interestingly, we found that spring irrigation with magnetized water can increase the chlorophyll content and net photosynthetic rate of cotton seedlings. The rectangular hyperbolic model (RHM), non-rectangular hyperbolic model (NRHM), exponential model (EM), and modified rectangular hyperbolic model (MRHM) were used to fit and compare the cotton light response curve, and MRHM was determined to be the optimal model to fit the data. This model was used to calculate the photosynthetic parameters of cotton. Compared with FS treatment, the net photosynthetic rate (Pnmax), dark respiration rate (Rd), light compensation point (Ic), light saturation point (Isat), and the range of available light intensity (ΔI) of MFS were increased by 5.18, 3.41, 3.18, 2.29 and 2.19%, respectively. Compared with BS treatment, the Pnmax, Rd, Ic, Isat and ΔI of MBS were increased by 26.44, 29.48, 30.05, 5.13, and 2.27%, respectively. Conclusion The results show that spring irrigation with magnetized brackish water may be a feasible method to reduce soil salt and increase soil water content when freshwater resources are insufficient.

Wastewater and Magnetized Wastewater Effects on Soil Erosion

“…Moreover, the magnetized water increased yield and yield component traits of all crops; and a lot of research has been done in recent years on the effect of magnetic irrigation on on growth, yield and nutritional qualities different crops (HOZAYN et al, 2011; Cola Pizetta et al, 2023; Qandil et al, 2023; Enan et al, 2023; Khoshravesh and Pourgholam-Amiji, 2023; Hassan et al, 2023; Baiyeri et al, 2023).The results indicate that the use of magnetized water in agriculture can be considered a sustainable technology to promote plant development and quality with reduced and more e cient water usage, leading to costsaving and environmental protection(Sestili et al, 2023). Utilizing brackish water for spring irrigation in combination with magnetized water technology may be a promising alternative strategy(Yi et al, 2023).…”