https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-02108-7
Regular Article
Pre-sowing seed exposure to static magnetic field can improve cabbage yield
1
Institute of Physics Belgrade, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
2
Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stanković”, National Institute of Republic of Serbia, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
3
Institute of Meat Hygiene and Technology, Belgrade, Serbia
Received:
1
July
2024
Accepted:
9
December
2025
Published online:
21
December
2025
The static magnetic field (SMF) has been shown to influence living organisms, for example, plants, fungi, insects, mice, and rats. The effects caused by SMF depend on the intensity of the applied field and exposure duration; however, discovered dependence on these parameters is non-linear. Numerous studies that used SMF for interaction with plants reported increased germination, seedling growth, length and biomass of plants, as well as drought and salinity tolerance of different plants. However, majority of the published studies rely on experiments performed in the laboratory conditions. In order to investigate if and how the conditions of pre-sowing exposure of cabbage seeds (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. alba) to SMF affect the yield of crops we took the experiment into the agricultural field and followed plant development from sowing to harvesting. Pre-sowing seeds exposures for one hour to highly homogeneous field of 50, 100, and 350 mT were considered and the plants were analyzed two and 3.5 months after sowing. In the transplant stage, seed exposure to 100 mT was found to produce 21.5% more leaves and plant weight increase of 30.7% compared to the control group. In the mature stage, the seed treatment with 350 and 100 mT caused statistically significant increase of the plant weight and head weight. In the group exposed to 350 mT the increase of plant and head weight was 22.7 and 24.8%, respectively, whereas for the 100 mT exposure the corresponding increases were 16.9 and 18.3%, respectively. Consequently, the pre-sowing 1 h exposure of cabbage seeds to 350 mT was found to be the most effective of the three studied SMF treatments, since it can produce 24.8% larger cabbage yield compared to the non-treated control.
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Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
