Investigating the Impact of the Magnetized Water on the Growth and Germination of Five Wheat Grain Seeds

Abstract

Introduction Cereals as one of the most important sources of food plants could provide more than 70% of the food for the human population. Passing of water from the magnetic field is among approachable methods in order to reduce the total amount of water used for irrigation. Moreover, magnetized water is a new concept for increasing the water efficiency. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the effects of the magnetized water on some of features containing dry weight, germination velocity and percentage, length and weight vigor indices of five common wheat cultivars including Roshan, Sardari, Shiraz, Falat and Yavarus, to introduce the best cultivar considering the growth and germination indices as well as water and energy efficiency. Materials and Methods To perform this experiment, a device with a magnetic field of 500 millitesla was constructed to accommodate both the water path and the placement of seeds in the magnetic field. To perform the experiments, 10 seeds in 4-kg vases and 25 seeds in each Petri dish were cultivated in the greenhouse and laboratory, respectively. The experiments were carried out in the form of completely randomized factorial design. The factors are considered as the duration time of keeping the water in the magnetic field (three levels of 30, 60 and 120 minutes), the intensity of the magnetic field (three levels of 100, 150, and 200 millitesla), and five wheat cultivars (Roshan, Sardari, Shiraz, Falat and Yavarus) in three replications. Experiments related to the both of rate and percent of germination and for dry weight were performed at room temperature in the laboratory and greenhouse under controlled conditions, respectively. The measured data were analyzed using SAS software. The F test was used to determine the significant level of treatments. The comparison of the means was evaluated using LSD test. Results and Discussion The obtained results, showed that the effect of magnetic water on all growth and germination indices compared to control samples was significant. Under the 150 millitesla and 120 minutes treatment, the Yavarus, Roshan and Sardari cultivar had maximum dry weight, respectively. The Roshan cultivar had the maximum germination velocity at 100 and 150 millitesla and duration time of 30 minutes. Moreover, the maximum germination percentage was found in the Roshan cultivar, which did not have a significant difference with Yavarus cultivar. The Roshan cultivar in 200 millitesla field and duration time of 60 minutes, had the maximum percentage of length vigor index, which showed a significant difference with other averages. In general, Roshan and Sardari cultivars had more length vigor index than other cultivars. Sardari cultivar had maximum percentage of weight vigor index under 200 millitesla and 120 minutes duration time, which had no significant difference with the percentage of weight vigor index at the same field level and with duration time of 60 minutes. Conclusion According to the obtained results to achieve the maximum value of dry weight, it is better to use the Yavarus cultivar. It is recommended to use the Roshan cultivar with the lower level of magnetic field and duration time to attain the maximum value of the germination velocity and percentage. To get the maximum value of the length vigor index and the weight vigor index the Roshan and Sardari cultivars, and the Sardari cultivar with field of 200 milli Tesla and lower duration time are preferred.

Keywords

• germination indices
• length and weight vigor
• magnetic water
• wheat