Electromagnetic effects on seed germination of moringa cultivars

Conference paper

Most recently, electromagnetic application in agriculture has increased since plant features were altered significantly in response to pre-sowing seed treatment. Moringa has an extraordinary range of industrial and medicinal uses. This miracle tree is an extremely precious plant with great nutritive importance. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of pre-sowing magnetic field (MF) treatments on seed germination and seedling growth in <em>Moringa oleifera</em>, <em>M. peregrina</em> and <em>M. oleifera</em> cultivar 'Periyakulam-1' (PKM-1). These laboratory experiments were carried out at the premises of the Sara bint Rached bin Ghonaim Research Chair for Cultivating non-Traditional Medicinal and Aromatic plants (SRC), PSAU, Alkharj (24°15'N, 47°30'E), KSA. Three treatments were established using a 75 mT (millitesla) MF with 30 min exposure duration to the seeds of: MFO (T1): seeds of <em>Moringa oleifera</em>; MFP (T2): seeds of <em>M. peregrina</em>; MFPKM (T3): seeds of PKM 1. The obtained results exhibited significant effects on most of the germination parameters; mean germination time (MGT), seedling vigour index (SVI), energy of germination (EG), and final germination percentage (FGP). <em>M. peregrina</em> exhibited the best attributes for most parameters compared to <em>Moringa oleifera</em> and <em>M. oleifera</em> cultivar 'Periyakulam-1' (PKM-1). These findings indicate the possible use of MF treatments for the seed germination and seedling growth of moringa that should be considered in further research studies.

Sara bint Rached bin Ghonaim Research Chair for Cultivating Non-Traditional Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Biology Department, College of Science and Humanities, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University (PSAU), Alkharj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)