Magnetized Water for Irrigation: A Review on its Effects on Crop Growth, Soil Properties and Water Use Efficiency

Objective: ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ To evaluate the effect of magnetic water on plant growth, Soil properties and water use efficiency, and its viability as an irrigation alternative method in the face of water shortage and traditional irrigation practices. Methods: This study conducted an extensive literature review (2019–2025) using Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and PubMed to assess magnetized water (MW) effects on plant growth, soil quality, and water use efficiency. Using keywords: “magnetized water,” “magnetic water treatment,” “magnetically treated irrigation,” “crop yield and magnetic water,” “soil response to magnetized water,” “magnetized irrigation water,” and “water use efficiency”—combined with Boolean operators, studies were synthesized thematically to identify trends, mechanisms, and research gaps. Findings: Magnetized Water (MW) is highly effective as it drives significant gains in crop productivity, soil and Water Use Efficiency (WUE). Vegetative and reproductive parameters, plant height increased up to 56%, fruit weight increased 64%, leaf area increased 109%, and flower dry mass increased 14%. These physiological enhancements were supported by increase in chlorophyll content from 13% to 21% and a 26% increase in carbohydrate content. MWT significantly increased WUE to 24.7% as soil moisture content rose up to 14.24%, resulting to more nutrient uptake (e.g., Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, P, K, Ca, Mg, with R2 = 0.9801), higher protein, and chlorophyll content. MWT also mitigated stress, as a 38% increase in plant survival under salinity. This improved water-nutrient relationship allows for greater crop yields, where MW irrigation led to a 20–25% higher seed yield. Moreover, crop yield significant increase such as strawberry (40.9%), grain yield (10.6%), beans (20.07%) depending on the water quality may yield up to 22.4 t/ha. In terms of soil properties, soil water storage increased by 1.58–14.19%, and MW mitigated salinity by reducing salt accumulation by 0.22–7.66%, lowering SAR from 16.3 to 13.9, and enhancing infiltration by 50%. Novelty: This review integrated seven years of most recent multidisciplinary researches on MW applied to diverse crops, integrating biophysical, chemical, and biological insights, quantifying performance gains, - areas previously treated separately which were often overlooked, while identifying critical research gaps in standardization, mechanistic understanding, and long-term validation, and mapping future research directions for large-scale, sustainable agricultural adoption. Keywords: Crop growth, Irrigation efficiency, Magnetized water, Soil properties, Water use efficiency