TOTAL REFERENCE 16

A Study on Maize Plant Growth Using Magnetic Treatment

Munendr Jain
School of Studies in Physics, Jiwaji University Gwalior, India e-mail: mjain23@hotmail.com

Priti Jain
Department of Pharmacy Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani,Rajasthan,India e-mail:pritijain@bits-pilani.ac.in

AbstractBio-magnetism is an interdisciplinary and emerging field which includes the study of biological effects of magnetic field and in present study we are trying to explore the Biomagnetic applications in agricultural science. Among all the possible Bio-magnetic applications, we are only concerning on magnetized water due to the simplicity of application. Magnetized water is an indirect magnetic treatment which enhances plant growth, germination and increases the fertility of the soil. Magnetized water helps in easy penetration of minerals in the plant cell. This decreases the amount of water needed for irrigation. Keywords- Bio-magnetism, Magnetized water, plant growth

frequency of the field is a more important factor in germination rates than polarity. Maximum germination rates, which were 20% higher than control rates, were obtained at around 10 Hz. An alternating magnetic field of 10 Hz was shown to have a statistically significant effect on plant growth, as measured by leaf area [8]. II.APPLICATIONS OF MAGNETIZED WATER Nowadays, many horticultural activities are carried out using the principles of magnetism [9-12]. Many scientists have made a hypothesis that if a magnet was placed below the plants, those containing iron lean towards the ground. However, experiments have proved them wrong. In fact, plants with magnets below them grew taller than those without magnets below them. Magnetism helps the plants grow faster. Similarly magnetic water has a positive effect on plant growth. Magnetic water is more solvent and has a lower surface tension, so nutrients in the water are absorbed more readily [13]. Use on agricultural crops results in higher production and improved quality of the plants with a reduction in the use of fertilizer. Fertilizers get dissolved in magnetized water and easily penetrate to the plant cell, thereby decreasing the use of fertilizers. Plants can absorb magnetized saline water. The magnetized saline water isolate the dissolved salts which drench to lower level in soil and plants can absorb the low clustered water very easily in presence of salts also. There is

I.

INTRODUCTION

In the present era, agricultural science takes an interest not only in the common and valued crop-forming factors, but also to improve the agricultural growth by electro-magnetic and optical treatments. Most of the experiments are very tedious, expensive, time consuming and limited up to research laboratory. Compared to these expensive experiments, the Bio-magnetic treatments are less expensive and it is considered as a factor that has significant effects on function and growth of plants. The effects of magnetic field on living systems [1a], particularly the effect on growth of plants have been the object of numerous researchers [1-4]. The more etiquette studies indicated that magnetic fields do influence plant growth and germination, [5-7] and that

possibility of using sea water for irrigation purpose in near future after magnetic treatment. The late Dr. Albert Roy Davies received a patent in 1950 for magnetically treating seeds to stimulate plant growth. Use of magnets in agriculture is not new and the leading role in this respect goes to the country of Israel. The mono-pole agricultural systems have had explosive results (e.g. cucumbers growth by 20%) in the Israelis green houses. Dunas-Mundimex [www.Mundi.com] is currently shipping magnets to Israel, where their acceptance is growing by the month and due to water being a scare resource and the magnetizer serving well the kibbutzes [collective community in Israel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbutz] and other agricultural establishments in the Holy Land, we expect this country to become shortly one of the magnetized regions of the world. Mundimex current tests done in Columbia on yield of cauliflowers irrigated with magnetized water showed over 20% increase in weight (important growth of the green parts to better protect white meat against the sun). Past tests on irrigation installation of alfalfa fields in Oregon have resulted in the 650% yield increase, 42% reduction of water needs and electric costs to pump it. Controlled studies of magnetic treatment of squash, tomatoes and cucumber seeds produced a 96% germination rate in only 3 days, whereas the untreated seeds had the normal germination rate of 73% in 14 days.[14] The use of magnetizer in farms at Europe improves hen laying, metabolism of animals, decaling of milk stone in dairies. The lowered surface tension creates greater water solubility and penetration. This effect results in breaking-up the clods of soil surrounding and restricting the root cilia. The de-clodding frees the cilia for greater surface area to absorb more water and minerals, hence an increase in root and plant growth [14]. Also minerals now pass easier through the water into the roots. Third and equally important are the electromotive forces that are transferred from the water to the plant. These forces, as shown in thousands of experiments and real life applications, specially stimulate growth activity. 150% increase in crop yields has been reported from many locations worldwide (compared e.g. with a 37% increase after use).

magnets (10000Gauss) and exposure time was 24 Hrs. Each soil pot of Maize Plant was irrigated daily with about 300ml of water. After four days the plants began to grow over the soil level and then the measurements were taken for interval of three days. The selection of Maize Plants for biometric observation (monitoring plant growth) was random (one plant from one soil pot). A. Limitation and possible errors of Experimental Setup It is a well established fact that the plant growth can be affected by direct-indirect factors. These factors introduce so many limitations for experimental setup such as pH, humidity, temperature, climate etc. However by applying a smart procedure for experiment it can be reduced within a tolerable range and in our case the possible average experimental error is below 10%.

IV. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS This study examines whether there are any beneficial effects of magnetic treatment of irrigation water over the productivity and yield of maize plants. Replicated pot experiments involving magnetically treated and nonmagnetically treated potable water (tap water) were conducted in glasshouse under controlled environmental conditions. A magnetic treatment device with its magnetic field in the range of 1-10000Gauss was used for the magnetic treatment of irrigation water. The analysis of the data collected during the study suggests that the effects of magnetic treatment were statistically significant in increasing the plant yield. In particular, the magnetic treatment of maize plants affects the average leaf area rather than average height of plants (see fig-1). The magnetized water affects the reverse osmosis phenomenon of the plant and activity of enzymes. Some studies have suggested that magnetic field exposure could be due to both the increase in the concentration [15] and oscillating free radicals [16]. A strong magnetic field produces magnetic moment on water molecules which change the active site in living cells during chemical reaction of radicals. The biological and chemical effect of magnetic field at micro level is still a big mystery due to experimental limitations. Authors are still examining the results of experiments and simultaneously trying to develop a more advanced and sophisticated experimental setup with wide variety of bio-metric observations. It will provide more information to develop a computer simulation model for plant growth and nano drug delivery system in case of infection. The bio-magnetic phenomenon requires more attention by researchers to establish the proper mechanism and applications.

III. Experimental Details and Procedure For this experiment, Maize (Zea mays L) plant is selected because Maize is most important crop of India and local conditions are also favorable for Maize plant. The criterion of selection of seeds depends on their size, weight and colour (approximately same size, weight and colour). Ten soil pots (52cm height, 42 cm upper diameter) were taken containing same type of soil and in each of the pot ten seeds were sown. After the germination we chose only five healthy plants (almost same in biometric parameters) from each soil pot. Five soil pots were irrigated daily with magnetized water while the other five soil pots were irrigated with tap water. Magnetic water was prepared by using strong electric

REFERENCES
[1a] S. Al-Mufarrej et al The Effects of Magnetically Treated Water on the Performance and Immune System of Broiler Chickens International Journal of Poultry Science, Vol-4,92-102,2005 [1] Savostin P W Magnetic growth relations in plants, Planta, Vol12,327,1930. [2] Audus, L. J., Magnetotropism: A new plant growth response,Nature, Vol. 185, 132134,1960. [3] Pittman, U. J., Effects of magnetic seed treatment on yields of barley, wheat and oats on Suthern Alberta, Can. J. Plant. Sci., Vol. 57, 37 45, 1977. [4] Smith, Welby R. ,Orchids of Minnesota. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Page 8,1993. [5] Hirota et al 1999, Effects of High and Very Low Magnetic Fields on the Growth of Hairy Roots of Daucus carota and Atropa Belladona Plant and Cell Physiology, Vol. 30, No. 4 605-608,1989. [6] Podleny, International-agrophysics.org, 2005. [7] Podleny Efficiency of the magnetic treatment of broad bean seeds cultivated under experimental plot conditions, Int. Agrophysics, 2004. [8] Namba,1994 Effect of Magnetic field on Germination and Growth, ISHS, 1994. [9] Soltani, F. and Abodlkarim, K., Effect of magnetic field on [10]

[11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

lettuce seed germination and its growth. Iranian Horticultural Science and Technology Journal, 5, 3547,2004. Martines, E., M. V. Carbonell, and M.Florez,Magnetic bio stimulation of initial growth stages of wheat, Electromagn. Biol. Med.,Vol. 21, No. 1, 4353, 2002. K Shioi Horticultural device for raising garden plants utilizing magnetism, US Patent 4,785,575, 1988 Kato R. Plant and Cell Physiology, Vol. 30, No. 4 605-608, 1989. Maheshwari B L Magnetic treatment of irrigation water: Its effects on vegetable crop yield and water productivity, Elsevier B.V. 2009. MCBBr -8/97 Newsletter [http://www.magnetizer.com.au/foragriculture.html]. Jajte, J. M., Programmed cell death as a biological function of electromagnetic fields at a frequency of (50/60 Hz), Medycyna Pracy., Vol. 51, 383389, 2000. Scaiano, J. C., F. L. Cozens, and N. Mohtat, Development of a model and application of the radical pair mechanism to radicals in micelles, Photochem. Photobiol., Vol. 62, 818829, 1995.

Figure 1.