Influence of magnetically-treated water on some nutritional qualities of irrigated tomato fruits

This study assessed the effect of magnetically-treated water on some nutritional qualities of irrigated tomato fruits in term of vitamins A and C contents and concentration of Lead in the tomato fruits. The irrigation water was treated with three magnetic flux densities 124, 319 and 719 gauss (G) produced from electromagnet. The tomato seed (variety UC82B) was planted in 28 buckets in a transparent garden shed for 130 days and irrigated with either magnetically-treated water (MTW) or non-magnetically-treated water (NMTW as the control experiment). Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Lead (Pb) concentration were analyzed from the tomato fruits. The values of vitamin A from tomato fruits irrigated with MTW treated by 124 (T1), 319 (T2) and 719 G (T3) were 0.68 mg/kg, 0.74 mg/kg and 0.80 mg/kg, respectively while vitamin A from tomato fruits for NMTW (Tc) was 0.73 mg/kg. The mean values of vitamin C of tomato fruits irrigated with MTW treated by 124 G, 319 G and 719 G were 117.30 mg/kg, 114.03 mg/kg and 115.10 mg/kg, respectively while vitamin C for NMTW was 113.93 mg/kg. The mean values of Lead concentration in the tomato for MTW were 0.083, 0.090 and 0.083 mg/kg while that of NMTW was 0.07 mg/kg. The values of Lead concentration in the tomato fruits were below the Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation (FAO/WHO, 2011) permissible limits (0.1 mg/kg). MTW increased uptake of lead by tomato fruit from the soil by 18.57 to 28.57 %. This uptake of Pb could make the tomato unsuitable for consumption if the concentration of Pb above the WHO permissible limits.