Effect of Magnetic Treatment of Irrigation Water on Growth and Yield of Maize under different Water Deficit Conditions

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effect of magnetic treatment of irrigation water (MTW) on the growth and yield of maize under water deficit conditions. The maize was planted in a pot (2 stands per pot) in a transparent garden shed using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). A magnetic flux density of 443 gauss produced from electromagnet was used and measured inside the pipe using a gaussmeter Model GM-2 by Alpha Lab Inc. Water was allowed to flow through the magnetic field in a pipe for about 113 seconds. Four treatments used were 100 (2 litres at 100 %), 80, 60 and 50 % of water requirement labelled as T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively and each treatment was replicated four times. A control experiment by non–magnetic treatment of water (NMTW) was also set up. The mean heights of maize plant with MTW at 29 days for T1, T2, T3 and T4 were 160, 184, 106, 103 mm while the yields after 86 days were 238.1, 281.6, 232.1 and 210.1 g/pot, respectively. The heights of maize plant with NMTW for T1, T2, T3 and T4 at 29 days were 124, 151, 91 and 90 mm while the yields after 86 days were 156.3, 209.6, 201.6 and 150.6 g/pot, respectively. The yield of maize from MTW compared to yield of maize from NMTW was statistically significant under the same water deficit condition by statistical pair t-test analysis.Keywords: Deficit irrigation, Magnetic treatment of water, Magnetically treated water, Maize