Statistical analysis of the use of magnetized water to irrigate the lettuce

• Grant number: 13/02296-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: April 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agricultural Engineering - Soil and Water Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Luís Roberto Almeida Gabriel Filho
• Grantee: Ana Laura Favoreto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Agriculture is responsible for 70% of global water consumption. It is known that plants need minerals and microelements of soil and photosynthesis to develop properly. However, plants cannot use most of the nutrients found in soil, because some are strongly retained to mineral soil particles or are in ways that are not readily assimilated. In plants irrigated with not magnetized water, a white coating is formed on the surface of the soil, formed of bicarbonate and calcium carbonate. Some bicarbonates of calcium are washed with the water that seeps into the soil and settles on the roots of plants. The plant, then, begins to have problems absorbing nutrients, due to these deposits, and to continue absorbing these elements necessary for their growth and development, creates additional roots. This process can result in physiological and anatomical abnormalities, which will reflect in the normal process of formation and production of this plant, and also have the same energy wastage for the formation of such roots. Studies show that plants irrigated with magnetized water easily lead the minerals from the soil and the sediment is not formed on the surface of it. Also, if the organic fertilizers and minerals are used, they dissolve better, resulting, in a reduction of the need to use in up to 50, resulting in increased production and quality of agricultural products. In view of the importance of the issue of irrigation for the development of plants, is widely justified that if seek search ways to optimize the use and exploitation of water in all its forms, mainly through the use of magnetic water. This project aims to investigate the real benefits of an irrigation system using magnetized water, from the sowing of the crop of lettuce Lactuca sativa l. (Curly), which will be compared cultivars in the same conditions when flushed without the magnetizing system in a protected environment seeking to determine the best productivity (magnetized or traditional). (AU)