Water relations, temperature, and growth of wheat grown with magnets

Summary

Plant water potential, osmotic potential, stomatal resistance, leaf temperature, soil temperature, height, dry weight, and nutrient composition of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell. ‘Osage’) grown with electromagnets 10 cm long were measured to determine the effect of magnets on water relations, temperature, and growth. Plants grew in 15-cm diameter pots in a growth room for 44 days with the magnets, which had 0, 5, 15, 25, 50, 125, or 250 ampere-turns. Plants grown with few ampere-turns (5–25) had higher water and osmotic potentials, lower stomatal resistances, were taller, had a higher dry weight, and a higher nitrogen concentration than control plants or plants grown with many ampere-turns (250). Leaf and soil temperatures of controls tended to be less than those of plants and soil with magnets. Calculations showed that magnets with 5–25 ampere-turns and 50–250 ampere-turns generated 0.86 and 0.43 cal/s, respectively. The latter value agreed with the measured increase in temperature (0.5° C) for soil with 250 ampere-turns. The data indicated that the increased height and dry weight of plants with 5–25 ampere-turns were due to soil heating caused by the magnets and heat produced by the 50–250 ampere-turns was not enough to stimulate growth.