Effects of Magnetized Water on Soil Chemical Components underneath Trickle Irrigation

Magnetized water has been studied by many researchers. However, to date, there is no study about the effects of magnetized water on soil chemical characteristics such as cations and anions in trickle irrigation. This study was performed at Gorgan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, Gorgan Province, Iran, to investigate soil chemical characteristics under trickle irrigation using magnetized water. Two main treatments of magnetic and nonmagnetized water, and three subtreatments of irrigation water salts, including well water as control and addition of 1 or 2 meq/L calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to irrigation water, were used. The experiment was laid out with a completely randomized block design with three replications. The results showed that mean soil cations (such as calcium, sodium, and magnesium) and anions (such as bicarbonate, chloride, and sulfate) at soil depths of 0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm below the emitter for magnetized irrigation water treatment were lower than those with nonmagnetized irrigation water treatment, and the differences were significant (p<0.05). With experiments that continued to the end of the season, the effect of magnetized water was increased. Therefore, soil moisture for each irrigation in magnetized irrigation water was higher than nonmagnetized irrigation water and caused high leaching of soil salt so that this effect was significant. The use of magnetized water is recommended for trickle irrigation to reclaim soils with high cations and anions content such as calcium, sodium, and bicarbonate.