Impact of Magnetized Freshwater, Saline Water and Treated Wastewater on Plant Growth and Yield Production of Cucumber Crop

Abstract

Aims: The growing scarcity and miss use of the available water resources particularly in arid and semi-arid regions constitute challenges to water demands for various utilities. One possible approach to conserve the scarce resources may be through improving the performance of the existing irrigation water using magnetization technology. The main aim of this study was to investigate the impact of magnetized and non-magnetized different types of water quality: freshwater (FW), magnetic freshwater (MFW), saline water (SW), magnetic saline water (MSW), wastewater (WW), and magnetic wastewater (MWW) on the growth and yield production of cucumber plant cultivated under greenhouse conditions.
 Study Design: The experiment was designed using a complete randomized design. Six different treatments were used and designed (FW, MFW, SW, MSW, WW, and MWW) with four replicates per each treatment.
 Place and Duration of Study: The field study was conducted at the experimental farm of Palestine Technical University- Kadoorie on February 2019 for a period of four months.
 Methodology: Cucumber seedlings were cultivated in plastic pots (7 litters). Six different types of water quality (FW, MFW, SW, MSW, WW, and MWW) were used for irrigating of cucumber plants. Average plant length, average fruit number per plant, average fruit weight per plant, average total yield, average plant dry matter, and photosynthetic rate were measured during the growing period.
 Results: Results of this study indicated that the plant irrigated with magnetized freshwater produced the highest plant length and fruit number followed by magnetized treated wastewater compared to the other treatments. Moreover, the plant irrigated with magnetized treated wastewater produced the highest yield, photosynthetic rate and dry matter, followed by magnetized fresh water and magnetized saline water treatments.
 Conclusion: It is concluded that, magnetized water for irrigation purposes could be a promising technique for agricultural improvements but more investigation is required on different crops.