Effect of Magnetized Irrigation Water on Germination and Yield of IAR-48 Cowpea Cultivar

Abstract

The study was carried out to experiment whether magnetic treatments of the irrigation water promote germination and yield of cowpea. Two magnetic flux densities of 1127.4G and 1071.5G (T1 and T2) were applied to treat irrigation water and a control treatment (Tc) which was non-magnetically treated water. The magnetic fields were generated through stationary magnets produced by neodymium and round-bar magnets within the treatment chambers. The cowpea seeds (IAR-48) were planted in buckets under transparent garden shed and irrigated with two magnetically treated water and non-magnetically treated water. A randomized complete block design experiment was used in this study and each of the three treatments was replicated five times. The results indicated that cowpea plant irrigated with magnetized water had better germination indices, plant height, stem diameters and yields than those of control. The germination of cowpea plants (T1,T2 and Tc) after  6 days after planting (DAP) were 37, 33 and 24 seedlings respectively while plant heights after  65 DAP were 66.3cm, 64.0cm and 56.4cm and  the stem diameters  were 0.773cm, 0.801cm and 0.630cm  respectively. Total yields harvested for T1, T2 and Tc were 12.6g, 11.9g and 6.50g respectively. The percentage increment in yield from the cowpea plants treated with magnetized water varied from 45%-48% compared to the yields obtained from untreated or ordinary water.