Pre‐sowing magnetic treatments of tomato seeds increase the growth and yield of plants

Abstract

The effects of pre-sowing magnetic treatments on growth and yield of tomato (cv Campbell-28) were investigated under field conditions. Tomato seeds were exposed to full-wave rectified sinusoidal non-uniform magnetic fields (MFs) induced by an electromagnet at 100 mT (rms) for 10 min and at 170 mT (rms) for 3 min. Non-treated seeds were considered as controls. Plants were grown in experimental plots (30.2 m(2)) and were cultivated according to standard agricultural practices. During the vegetative and generative growth stages, samples were collected at regular intervals for growth rate analyses, and the resistance of plants to geminivirus and early blight was evaluated. At physiological maturity, the plants were harvested from each plot and the yield and yield parameters were determined. In the vegetative stage, the treatments led to a significant increase in leaf area, leaf dry weight, and specific leaf area (SLA) per plant. Also, the leaf, stem, and root relative growth rates of plants derived from magnetically treated seeds were greater than those shown by the control plants. In the generative stage, leaf area per plant and relative growth rates of fruits from plants from magnetically exposed seeds were greater than those of the control plant fruits. At fruit maturity stage, all magnetic treatments increased significantly (P < .05) the mean fruit weight, the fruit yield per plant, the fruit yield per area, and the equatorial diameter of fruits in comparison with the controls. At the end of the experiment, total dry matter was significantly higher for plants from magnetically treated seeds than that of the controls. A significant delay in the appearance of first symptoms of geminivirus and early blight and a reduced infection rate of early blight were observed in the plants from exposed seeds to MFs. Pre-sowing magnetic treatments would enhance the growth and yield of tomato crop.

Stimulatory Effect of the Magnetic Treatment on the Germination of Cereal Seeds

“…The effect of a magnetic field on Asparagus officinalis and Ocimum basilicum seed germination and seedling growth to be positive (Soltani et al 2006 a, b). The leaf, stem and root relative growth rates of tomato plants grown from magnetically treated seeds were greater than those of control plants (Souza et al 2006). Magnetic field application enhanced chickpea seed germination speed, seedling length and seedling dry weight.…”

Magnetic stimulation of marigold seed

“…The coils were connected in series and attached to the power source. Thus, when a rectified electric current without smoothing passed through the electromagnet coils a full wave rectified nonuniform pulsating magnetic field was generated in the air space between the two bars (poles) (De Souza et al, 2006).…”

“…Magnetic seed pretreatments have been used successfully to improve germination rate and crop establishment, boost growth, development and ultimately yield of many horticultural and agronomic crops (Aladjadjiyan, 2010;Moon and Chung, 2000;Pietruszewski and Kania, 2010). Magnetic field pretreatment not only increased seed germination rate, seedling growth and yield (Balouchi and Sanavy, 2009) but also reduced the attack of pathogenic diseases (De Souza et al, 2006;Yinan et al, 2005). The beneficial effect of magnetic seed stimulation has been associated with various biochemical, cellular, and molecular events including enzyme activity (Rochalska and Grabowska, 2007) and synthesis of proteins.…”

Physical Factors for Plant Growth Stimulation Improve Food Quality

“…The investigations have shown that the treatment of the seeds with magnetic field increases the germination of nonstandard seeds and improves their quality (Pietruszewski et al, 2007). Experiments have been made with large range of plants: grain - (Torres et al, 2008;Vashisth & Nagarajan, 2008;Vashisth & Nagarajan, 2010), leguminous (Podlesny et al, 2004;Podlesny et al, 2005;De Souza et al;2006, Odhiambo et al, 2009Martínez et al, 2009b), and perennials (Cȩlik et al, 2008;, Dardeniz et al, 2006;Dhawi & Al-Khayri, 2009). …”