Impact of using magnetic water on the micro structure of leached saline-sodic soil

Structural changes in the porous media are critical in evaluating the soil pore system and other physical properties of leached soil. In this work, the combination of selected physical parameters such as bulk density and hydraulic conductivity with images of scanning electron microscopic (SEM) was used to study the impact of five levels (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 magnets) of magnetically treated water (MTW) on the structural changes in pore spaces of leached high saline-sodic soil, compared with leached soil with non- magnetically treated water (NMTW) and unleached soil. Results show that leaching saline-sodic soil with MTW leads to a remarkable increase in soil pore network as confirmed by SEM observations and ImageJ software program. The influence of MTW is important in all cases but the changes in pores of leached soil were mainly observed when the magnetic fields of 7 and 9 were used. It has been found that the value of total percentage area of pores in the leached soil was found to be 7.55 and 9.53, respectively, while the total percentage area of pores in both leached soil with NMTW and unleached soil were 0.69 and 0.1 respectively. It can be concluded that MTW can improve the physiochemical properties of soils in two ways: first, it accelerates the solubility of salts and increases calcium ion available on the soil exchange surface which displaced a higher concentration of adsorbed sodium ions. Second, the changes in the microstructure lead to improved soil porosity combined with saturated hydraulic conductivity and bulk density. This study will provide a method for using magnetic water technology to improve soil properties greatly by increasing soil porosity. Through this porosity, water, solutes, and gases can diffuse through the ground, thus increasing exchange processes.