107
EMFs and Environmental Stresses in Plants
metabolites and a decrease in free radicals as well as triggering the plant defence responses and
antioxidant defence system under abiotic and biotic stress as well as non-stress conditions. This indicates that MF treatment improves tolerance or resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Therefore, an
approach is revealed for ways to face the environmental stresses being generated by global warming
and other causes that disturb agricultural effciency. The MF treatment of seeds and plants may allow
us to design more complex experiments to study the interaction between two or three different types
of stress in order to better understand the net impact of stress combinations on plants.
The technology required to treat seeds and plants with MFs is a type of magnetic treatment in
the range from 80 to 200 mT for several exposure times (1–10 min; De Souza et al., 2006, 2010,
2014, 2020). This technology is appropriate and inexpensive for the small farmer with diverse crops;
however, its application is limited at a larger scale and more research is therefore required to fnd
ways to scale up the procedure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank Prof. Ben Greenebaum, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, for his valuable comments and suggestions on this chapter.
REFERENCES
Agustrina, R., Nurcahyani, E. and Irawan, B. (2018) Tomato generative growth from the seeds exposed to 0.2
mT of magnetic feld and infected by Fusarium sp. J Phys Conf Ser 1116:052002.
Anand, A., Nagarajan, S., Verma, A., Joshi, D., Pathak, P. and Bhardwaj, J. (2012) Pre-treatment of seeds with
static magnetic feld ameliorates soil water stress in seedlings of maize (Zea mays L.). Indian J Biochem
Biophys 49:63–70.
Atkinson, N.J., Lilley, V.J. and Urwin, P.E. (2013) Identifcation of genes involved in the response to simultaneous biotic and abiotic stress. Plant Physiol 162:2028–2041.
Baby, S.M., Narayanaswamy, G.K. and Anand, A. (2011) Superoxide radical production and performance
index of Photosystem II in leaves from magnetoprimed soybean seeds. Plant Sign Behav 6:1635–1637.
Baghel, L., Kataria, S. and Guruprasad, K.N. (2016) Static magnetic feld treatment of seeds improves carbon
and nitrogen metabolism under salinity stress in soybean. Bioelectromagnetics 37:455–470.
Baghel, L., Kataria, S. and Guruprasad, K.N. (2018) Effect of static magnetic feld pretreatment on growth,
photosynthetic performance and yield of soybean under water stress. Photosynthetica 56:718–730.
Baghel, L., Kataria, S. and Jain, M. (2019) Mitigation of adverse effects of salt stress on germination, growth,
photosynthetic effciency and yield in maize (Zea mays L.) through magnetopriming. Acta Agrobot
72(1):1757.
Bolton, M.V. (2009) Primary metabolism and plant defense-fuel for the fre. Mol Plant Microbe Interact
22:487–497.
Brown, J.K.M. and Hovmoller, M.S. (2002) Aerial dispersal of pathogens on the global and continental scales
and its impact on plant disease. Science 297:537–541.
Chen, Y., Li, R. and He, J.M. (2011) Magnetic feld can alleviate toxicological effect induced by cadmium in
mungbean seedlings. Ecotoxicology 20:760–769.
Chen, Y., Chen, D. and Liu, Q. (2017) Exposure to a magnetic feld or laser radiation ameliorates effects
of Pb and Cd on physiology and growth of young wheat seedlings. J Photochem Photobiol, B Biol
169:171–177.
De Souza, A., García, D., Sueiro, L., Licea, L. and Porras, E. (2005) Pre-sowing magnetic treatment of tomato
seeds: Effects on the growth and yield of plants cultivated late in the season. Spanish J Agric Res
3(1):113–122.
De Souza, A., Garcia, D., Sueiro, L., Gilart, F., Porras, E. and Licea, L. (2006) Pre-sowing magnetic treatments of tomato seeds increase the growth and yield of plants. Bioelectromagnetics 27:247–257.
De Souza, A., Sueiro, L., García, D. and Porras, E. (2010) Extremely low frequency non-uniform magnetic
felds improve tomato seed germination and early seedling growth. Seed Sci Technol 38:61–72.
De Souza, A., García, D., Sueiro, L. and Gilart, F. (2014) Improvement of the seed germination, growth and
yield of onion plants by extremely low frequency non-uniform magnetic felds. Sci Hortic 176:63–69.
EMFs and Environmental Stresses in Plants
metabolites and a decrease in free radicals as well as triggering the plant defence responses and
antioxidant defence system under abiotic and biotic stress as well as non-stress conditions. This indicates that MF treatment improves tolerance or resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Therefore, an
approach is revealed for ways to face the environmental stresses being generated by global warming
and other causes that disturb agricultural effciency. The MF treatment of seeds and plants may allow
us to design more complex experiments to study the interaction between two or three different types
of stress in order to better understand the net impact of stress combinations on plants.
The technology required to treat seeds and plants with MFs is a type of magnetic treatment in
the range from 80 to 200 mT for several exposure times (1–10 min; De Souza et al., 2006, 2010,
2014, 2020). This technology is appropriate and inexpensive for the small farmer with diverse crops;
however, its application is limited at a larger scale and more research is therefore required to fnd
ways to scale up the procedure.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank Prof. Ben Greenebaum, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, for his valuable comments and suggestions on this chapter.
REFERENCES
Agustrina, R., Nurcahyani, E. and Irawan, B. (2018) Tomato generative growth from the seeds exposed to 0.2
mT of magnetic feld and infected by Fusarium sp. J Phys Conf Ser 1116:052002.
Anand, A., Nagarajan, S., Verma, A., Joshi, D., Pathak, P. and Bhardwaj, J. (2012) Pre-treatment of seeds with
static magnetic feld ameliorates soil water stress in seedlings of maize (Zea mays L.). Indian J Biochem
Biophys 49:63–70.
Atkinson, N.J., Lilley, V.J. and Urwin, P.E. (2013) Identifcation of genes involved in the response to simultaneous biotic and abiotic stress. Plant Physiol 162:2028–2041.
Baby, S.M., Narayanaswamy, G.K. and Anand, A. (2011) Superoxide radical production and performance
index of Photosystem II in leaves from magnetoprimed soybean seeds. Plant Sign Behav 6:1635–1637.
Baghel, L., Kataria, S. and Guruprasad, K.N. (2016) Static magnetic feld treatment of seeds improves carbon
and nitrogen metabolism under salinity stress in soybean. Bioelectromagnetics 37:455–470.
Baghel, L., Kataria, S. and Guruprasad, K.N. (2018) Effect of static magnetic feld pretreatment on growth,
photosynthetic performance and yield of soybean under water stress. Photosynthetica 56:718–730.
Baghel, L., Kataria, S. and Jain, M. (2019) Mitigation of adverse effects of salt stress on germination, growth,
photosynthetic effciency and yield in maize (Zea mays L.) through magnetopriming. Acta Agrobot
72(1):1757.
Bolton, M.V. (2009) Primary metabolism and plant defense-fuel for the fre. Mol Plant Microbe Interact
22:487–497.
Brown, J.K.M. and Hovmoller, M.S. (2002) Aerial dispersal of pathogens on the global and continental scales
and its impact on plant disease. Science 297:537–541.
Chen, Y., Li, R. and He, J.M. (2011) Magnetic feld can alleviate toxicological effect induced by cadmium in
mungbean seedlings. Ecotoxicology 20:760–769.
Chen, Y., Chen, D. and Liu, Q. (2017) Exposure to a magnetic feld or laser radiation ameliorates effects
of Pb and Cd on physiology and growth of young wheat seedlings. J Photochem Photobiol, B Biol
169:171–177.
De Souza, A., García, D., Sueiro, L., Licea, L. and Porras, E. (2005) Pre-sowing magnetic treatment of tomato
seeds: Effects on the growth and yield of plants cultivated late in the season. Spanish J Agric Res
3(1):113–122.
De Souza, A., Garcia, D., Sueiro, L., Gilart, F., Porras, E. and Licea, L. (2006) Pre-sowing magnetic treatments of tomato seeds increase the growth and yield of plants. Bioelectromagnetics 27:247–257.
De Souza, A., Sueiro, L., García, D. and Porras, E. (2010) Extremely low frequency non-uniform magnetic
felds improve tomato seed germination and early seedling growth. Seed Sci Technol 38:61–72.
De Souza, A., García, D., Sueiro, L. and Gilart, F. (2014) Improvement of the seed germination, growth and
yield of onion plants by extremely low frequency non-uniform magnetic felds. Sci Hortic 176:63–69.