Effect of Irrigation with Activated Water on Root Morphology of Hydroponic Rice and Wheat Seedlings

Abstract

Raising yields and agricultural production efficiency is the primary goal of realizing modern agriculture. As a low-cost and environmentally friendly technology, activated water has the potential to increase crop yields and improve water and fertilizer use efficiency, but much research is still needed to make this technology widely available in the field. Hydroponic experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of magnetized water, aerated water, and magnetized aerated water on rice and wheat seedling and root growth. The results showed that aerated water irrigation significantly increased plant height by 5.1–9.6%, leaf area by 21.1%, and aboveground biomass by 14.8–16.3%, respectively. Aerated water irrigation also significantly promoted rice root biomass, maximum root length, total root length, total root surface area, and especially the proportion of roots less than 0.5 mm in diameter, indicating that aerated water enhances the growth of rice seedlings mainly by promoting root growth, especially fine root (D ≤ 0.5 mm) growth. The maximum root length and total root volume of wheat roots under magnetized water irrigation treatment were increased by 7.7–8.6% and 17.2%, respectively, resulting in a significant increase in aboveground dry biomass by 13.6%. Magnetized water and magnetized aerated water irrigation also promoted the growth of rice seedlings and roots. In contrast, aerated water and magnetized aerated water irrigation exhibited an inhibitory effect on the growth of wheat seedlings and roots. Therefore, activated water has different effects on different crops in hydroponics, and more research is needed in the future to determine the conditions for the application of activated water in agriculture.