Abstract

Germination of seed depends on several physico-chemical factors like temperature, water potential, light, nitrate content, smoke, electric field and magnetic field. In the present work, effect of static magnetic field on black-gram seeds (Cicer arietinum L.) was described. Seeds of C. arietinum L. were exposed in batches to static magnetic fields of 0 to 226 mT strength in steps of 50 mT (approximately) for 1 h. Treatment of seeds in these magnetic fields increased the speed of germination, seedling shoot and root length under laboratory germination tests. On the basis of this, a new germination model called magnetic time model is developed which was incorporated in hydrothermal model and hence nominated as hydrothermal magnetic time model which is proposed to incorporate the effect of magnetic field of different intensities on plants. Magnetic time constant θ_B is determined experimentally for different seeds population. The model is helpful in a way that it defines another constant called hydrothermal-magnetic-time constant, which is of great importance to understand the behavior of induced magnetic field on seeds and plant growth.

Key words: Magnetic-time model, hydro-thermal-magnetic-time model, Cicer arietinum L