Effects of electromagnetic irrigation water on lagos spinach evapotranspiration using lysimetric method

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effect of magnetic treatment of water on the evapotranspiration of Lagos Spinach – simply called Celosia, at different growing stages up until harvest, with varying magnetic flux densities and non – magnetic water as the control experiment. Flux densities of T₁ = 719 G using 12 V terminal, T₂ = 443 G using 8 V terminal, T₃ = 319 G using 6 V, T₄ = 124 G using 4 V and T₅ = 0 G (control) obtained from the electromagnet, were used in treating irrigation water. Equal volume of water (1.3 litres) was used to irrigate the plants every irrigation session. Each treatment was replicated ten times to make a total number of 50 buckets of celosia plants laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) layout. Celosia seeds were planted in the 50 buckets in a transparent screenhouse for 42 days (08-May-2018 to 18 - June – 2018). Lysimetric method was used to compute water lost due to evapotranspiration per day by weight loss in buckets. The mean values of daily evapotranspiration of two celosia plants per bucket over a – 42 – day period of growth for T₁, T₂, T_3, T₄ and T₅ were 7.49 mm/day, 7.55 mm/day, 7.76 mm/day, 8.36 mm/day and 7.68 mm/day respectively. Daily values of evapotranspiration subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at a confidence interval of 95% (i.e. α ≤ 0.05) using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Science Students version 22 (SPSS) showed that the rate of water absorption by celosia plants for evapotranspiration was statistically significant. The percentage increment of evapotranspiration of celosia irrigated with magnetic water compared with that of ordinary water varied from 1.04 % to 8.85 %. This implies that magnetically – treated celosia plants absorbed water more easily than those of ordinary water, and this might be responsible for the former’s enhanced growth.