Seed disinfection and stimulation by biophysical methods

Abstract

Large yield increases due to intensive use of chemicals mark the agriculture of the 20^th century. At the same time, the intensive application of chemicals negatively affected the environment. The agriculture of the 21^st century is expected to rely on biophysics which is more environment friendly than chemicals.

A study has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of electrons for seed disinfection as well as to assess the effect of resonance impulse electromagnetic stimulation (RIES) on agricultural crops yield increase. The following wheat varieties were used in a field trial: Renesansa, Durumka, Last and NS Rana 5. The trial included the following treatments: 1. seed disinfected by chemicals, 2. seed disinfected by chemicals + RIES, 3. seed disinfected by electrons, 4. seed disinfected by electrons + RIES. The other agrotechnical measures (planting and tending) were performed conventionally. The following yield components were analyzed at the end of the growing season: stem height, number of spikes per m², total number of spikelets per spike, mass of barren spikelets per spike, mass of seeds per spike, mass of 1000 seeds and seed yield per hectare. In both seed treatments with electrons, stem height was reduced by 0.46 and 0.15 cm, number of spikes per m²  was reduced by 5 and 21 and the number of barren spikelets was reduced by 0.06. Compared against chemical disinfection, the electron treatment increased the number of spikelets per spike by 0.34, mass of seeds per spike by 0.08 g, mass of 1000 seeds by 0.47 g and 0.72 g and seed yield by 0.1 tha^-1 and 0.14 tha^-1. RIES stimulation reduced stem height by 0.42 cm, number of spikes per m² by 18, number of barren spikelets by 0.11. At the same time, RIES stimulation increased the total number of spikelets per spike by 0.11, mass of seeds per spike by 0.03 g, mass of 1000 seeds by 0.15 g and seed yield by 260 kgha^-1.