Synergistic effects of magnetic water treatment and mulching on crop and soil moisture-salinity distribution

Freshwater scarcity has increased the reliance on low quality water for irrigation purposes. Brackish and/or high salinity irrigation water may increase soil salinity and reduce yields. This study was carried out for two consecutive seasons to study the effect of magnetic treatment of brackish water and soil mulching on strawberry growth and productivity and soil moisture-salinity distribution. For this purpose, three irrigation water types were used: tap water (W₁), brackish water (W₂), and magnetically treated brackish water (W₃). Four different soil mulches were evaluated: rice straw mulch applied at rate of 3 t ha^-1 (M₁), rice straw mulch applied at rate of 5 t ha^-1 (M₂), white polyethylene plastic mulch (M₃), and black polyethylene plastic mulch (M₄) compared to bare soil (M₀). The results revealed that magnetic water treatment (MWT) and soil mulching significantly enhanced crop growth and productivity and improved soil moisture-salinity distribution. The difference between M₂ and M₄ was not statistically significant in almost all the studied traits in both growing seasons. This result highlights the potential of using rice straw as a sustainable alternative to plastic mulch in strawberry cultivation. Strawberry marketable yield and water productivity increased significantly by 26.7% and 18.6% over the two growing seasons as a result of MWT, compared to untreated water. Moreover, MWT had a positive effect on reducing soil salinization. MWT led to a significant decrease in soil salinity by 17.8% compared to untreated water (W₂) and the difference in soil salinity between W₁ and W₃ was not statistically significant. The integration of MWT and straw mulch at 5 t ha^-1 (W₃M₂) has resulted in marketable yield increase of 32.6 and 40.9% compared to brackish water irrigation and bare soil conditions (W₂M₀). Hence W₃M₂ could be adopted as a sustainable management practice for safe use of brackish irrigation water in strawberry cultivation.