Response of Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) to the application of a bio-fertilizer treated with a magnetic field

Abstract

The growth and production response of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) to the application of a mixture solution of bio-fertilizer Multibiol® and water, treated with a AC magnetic flux induction of 25 mT and 60 Hz was evaluated. A circuit connected to a recirculation solenoid was used. The solution was applied in a concentration ratio of 1:12 to seedlings under greenhouse conditions for three months, at doses of 0.25 L for five min, every seven days, getting 10 doses for the entire experiment. Three periods of exposure to the flux (7½, 15 and 30 min), a recirculated treatment without solenoid (T) and an absolute control without recirculate that used only potable water (Ta) were established too. A univariate completely randomized design was used. The results indicated that the exposure to the field for 7 ½ min resulted in statistically significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) in the response variables compared with the treatment T and Ta, respectively, 18 % and 40.1 % for the length of the plant; in 80 % and 98 % for the number of rhizomes; in 50 % and 500 % for the number of shots; 217.4 % and 73.7 % for fresh mass and finally 70.1 % and 186.6 % for the dry mass. The results indicate that irrigation with magnetically stimulated bio-fertilizer can be considered as a complementary technology to increase the production of C. longa.

Keywords

• Magnetobiology
• agri-environment technology
• magnetic field
• C. longa
• soil