Influence of pulsed electromagnetic field as a pre-sowing treatment on germination, plant growth and yield of broad beans

Abstract

Magnetic field is a variable abiotic factor, like temperature, air, soil and water that interacts with the living organisms. The use of different types of magnetic field at many different plant species is increasing and the results are promising. A two-year field experiment was established following a completely randomized design, to investigate the effect of pre-sowing magnetic field treatment for 0, 15, 30 and 45 min on three broad bean varieties. The obtained results showed that the treatment of seeds with pulsed electromagnetic field increased germination percentage, chlorophyll content, leaf area, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and dry weight. In general, the exposure of seeds for 15 min, gave the highest values compared to the control treatments for the three varieties used. A very interesting result is the fact that although there was an influence of the exposure of magnetic field on the dry weight of the plants, there was not a positive or a negative influence on the seed yield for both years. This means that magnetic field enhanced the vegetative development of the broad beans, but it had no effect on the reproductive development. The results indicate that magnetic field can be used in the cases that the productive direction of the cultivation of broad beans is for livestock forage and silage, as the pre-sowing treatment of seeds had a positive effect on plant dry weight. *** In press - Online First. Article has been peer reviewed, accepted for publication and published online without pagination. The article is to be paginated when the complete issue will be ready for publishing (Volume 48, Issue 3, 2020). The article is searchable and citable by Digital Object Identifier (DOI). DOI link will become active after the article will be included in the complete issue.