Effects of magnetized municipal effluent on some physical properties of soil in furrow irrigation

Abstract

Due to the water crisis, effluent reuse is an effective method in order to supply crop water requirements. In order to study the impact of treated and magnetic effluent on the soil properties, this research was conducted in randomized complete block design with three irrigation treatments; including "effluent", "magnetic effluent" and "normal water" in four replications. Soil samples were taken from two surface and subsurface soil layers and at the upper and the downstream of each furrow. Evaluating the apparent specific gravity of soil in different water quality treatments showed that this soil property was increased effectively at the upstream part of the furrow. Similar results were also observed in the field capacity but more fluctuations were observed. Simultaneously, effluent treatment showed decreasing effects on soil water holding capacity during the time, which can be attributed to the increasing of soil organic matters. It seems that the high fluctuations between different design blocks are related to the gravelly nature of soil. However, intensification or weakening effect of these changes was not even found by magnetic.