Pre-sowing magnetic treatment of tomato seeds: effects on the growth and yield of plants cultivated late in the season

A De Souza,E Porras,L Sueiro,L Licea,D García

doi:10.5424/sjar/2005031-131

A De Souza, E Porras + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.5424/sjar/2005031-131

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Abstract

The effects of pre-sowing magnetic treatments on the growth and yield of tomatoes (cv. Vyta), cultivated late in the season, were studied under field conditions. Tomato seeds were exposed either to a 120 mT dynamic magnetic field (induced by an experimental electromagnet) for 10 min or to a 80 mT field for 5 min. Non-treated seeds were used as controls. Plants were grown in experimental plots (20.2 square m) and cultivated according to standard agriculture practices. At physiological maturity, the plants were harvested from each plot and the number of fruits, mean fruit weight, fruit yield per plant and fruit yield per area determined. In the nursery stage, the treatments led to a significant increase in root length, fresh and dry root weight, stem length, fresh and dry stem weight, leaf area and foliole dry weight. During the vegetative stage, the leaf, stem and root relative growth rates of plants derived from magnetically-treated seeds were greater than those shown by control plants. In the generative stage, the relative growth rate of the fruits belonging to the "magnetically treated plants" was greater than that of control plant fruits. At the fruit maturity stage, the magnetically treated seeds produced plants with significantly more fruits (17.9-21.3%), with a significantly greater mean fruit weight (22.3-25.5%), and with a greater fruit yield per plant (47.3-51.7%) and per area (48.6-50.8%) than did the control plants. Pre-sowing magnetic treatments would appear to enhance the growth and yield of tomatoes cultivated late in the season.

Highlights

All living organisms evolved in the presence of a natural geomagnetic field; determining the influence that magnetic fields might have on organisms is the subject of an increasingly large research effort
These treatments had a remarkable effect (p < 0.05) on root fresh and dry weight results: T1 treatment led to an increase in fresh weight of 48.2 % while T2 led to a 38.6% increase; root dry weight increased by 80.7% with T1 and by 79.1% with T2 (Table 3)
Stem length was significantly affected by the magnetic treatments (p < 0.05); T1 led to a 34.9% increase while T2 led to a 35.9% increase over that of the controls (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

All living organisms evolved in the presence of a natural geomagnetic field; determining the influence that magnetic fields might have on organisms is the subject of an increasingly large research effort. Magnetic fields have been reported to exert a positive effect on the germination of seeds (Alexander and Doijode, 1995; Carbonell et al, 2000), on plant growth and development (De Souza et al, 1999; Martínez et al, 2000), on tree growth (Ruzic et al, 1998), on the ripening of fruits and vegetables (Boe and Salunke, 1963) and on crop yield (Pietruszewski, 1993); some review papers mention a number of controversial, early results (Findlay and Hope, 1976; Frey, 1993). Several models have been proposed to explain the possible mechanisms behind the influence of magnetic fields and to predict the magnetic exposure conditions that might produce biological effects (Lednev, 1991; Popp, 1994). The effects that have been reported do not seem to be explained by a single hypothesis

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