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Saline–alkaline stress suppresses rice growth and threatens crop production. Despite substantial research on rice’s tolerance to saline–alkaline stress, fewer studies have examined the impact of magnetic water treatments on saline–alkaline-stressed rice plants. We explored the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in saline–alkaline stress tolerance enhancement via irrigation with magnetized water using Nipponbare. The growth of Nipponbare plants was inhibited by saline–alkaline stress, but this inhibition was alleviated by irrigating the plants with magnetized water, as evidenced by greater plant height, biomass, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rates, and root system in plants irrigated with magnetized water compared to those irrigated with non-magnetized water. Plants that were irrigated with magnetized water were able to acquire more total nitrogen. In addition, we proved that rice seedlings irrigated with magnetized water had a greater root NO3−-nitrogen concentration and root NH4+-nitrogen concentration than plants irrigated with non-magnetized water. These findings suggest that treatment with magnetized water could increase nitrogen uptake. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the expression levels of genes involved in nitrogen acquisition. The expression levels of OsNRT1;1, OsNRT1;2, OsNRT2;1, OsAMT1;2, OsAMT2;1, OsAMT2;2, OsAMT2;3, OsAMT3;1, OsAMT3;2, and OsAMT3;3 were higher in plants exposed to magnetized water medium compared to those exposed to non-magnetized water media. We further demonstrated that treatment with magnetized water increases available nitrogen, NO3−-nitrogen content, and NH4+-nitrogen content in soil under saline–alkaline stress. Our results revealed that the increased resistance of rice seedlings to saline–alkaline stress may be attributable to a very effective nitrogen acquisition system enhanced by magnetized water.

Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD), as a bio-fumigation technology, has been developed to control soil-borne pests. There is increasing evidence showing that carbon sources and cover tarps play an important role in the ASD suppression of soil-borne pests, but little is known about the effect of composted chicken manure (CCM) and totally impermeable films (TIF) against soil-borne pests in the strawberry production system. In experiments, the colonies of Fusarium spp. and Phytophthora spp., which are recognized to cause strawberry soil-borne diseases, decreased significantly after ASD. The soil promoted a significant increase in ammonium nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen and organic matter, but a decrease in oxidation-reduction potential after ASD. Besides, the strawberry plant height, stem thickness and yield were significantly higher than in the non-amended soil. Compared to the untreated control, ASD, both at 6 and 12 ton/ha of CCM, significantly (p = 0.05) increased strawberry marketable yield and income. The economic benefit could be due to the suppression of soil-borne diseases and the improvement of soil nutrition. The soil bacterial and fungal diversity and richness increased after soil fumigation. The increased presence of biological control agents led to the suppression of soil-borne pathogens. In summary, ASD with CCM amendments could be applied in pre-plant fumigation to control strawberry soil-borne pests, strengthen soil fertility, improve crop yield and increase growers&rsquo, income.