Impact of Magnetic Application on the Parameters Related to Growth of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The morphological data were used in this study for the evaluation of five chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) varieties at the University of Sulaimanyah, College of Agriculture in 2010. Seeds of different varieties of chickpea were exposed in batches to static magnetic fields (1500 gauss of magnetic force) for 30, 50 and 70 min. Then, the magnetic seed were placed between two layers of moist germination paper in petri dish. They were placed in the germination incubator at 20°C in an upright position. After 8 days, different plant growth parameters were tested such as germination percentage, root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, root dry weight and shoot dry weight, based on normal seedlings. The results showed that magnetic field application enhanced seed performance in terms of laboratory germination: seedling length and seedling fresh and dry weight compared to unexposed control. However, the response varied with duration of exposure. Among the various duration exposures, 50 and 70 min. exposures gave best results. A pot experiment was carried out in a greenhouse was aimed at finding the effect of a constant magnetic field on the root and shoot system, as well as on yield of spring chickpea. Seeds are grown in plastic cups for 4 months and irrigated with magnetized water which prepared by using static magnetic field. Six to fourteen plants were tagged for morphological data collection. The results showed that magnetized seeds irrigated with magnetized water have enhanced seed performance in terms of plant height, number of brancha, number of leaves, number of leaflets root and shoot fresh weight, root and shoot dry weight, the total photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids) and yield in some varieties.