Pre-sowing seed treatment in winter wheat and spring barley cultivation

Abstract

The increase in the cereal spike crops yield capacity under the current change of the climatic conditions in Ukraine will have a positive tendency in the nearest future, but the sustainable grain production under sharp weather fluctuations is possible only with the improvement of the agro-technological systems. The pre-sowing seed treatment with chemical synthesis pesticides remains the main method in the agricultural industry today. However, the pesticides inevitably have a negative influence on the ecosystem of any level. A more environmentally friendly method of seed treatment under the intensive technology is the combination of the microwave seed irradiation and seed incrustation with the plant growth regulators that provide an increase in the cereal crops yield capacity up to 15–20 %. It is possible to reduce the negative influence of chemical measures on the quality of the cereal crops seeds by using for the seed treatment a mixture of a treatment agent with the preparations having the stimulating properties. The most promising among all physical methods of the pre-sowing seed treatment is the microwave technology which suppresses the entire complex of the seed infection and can become an alternative to the chemical method of plant protection. The universal character and practical importance of MW technologies in combination with the growth regulating substances consist not only in the increase in the yield capacity of the field crops, but also in reducing the technogenic load on the environment. The peculiarity of EMF of EHF application in the agricultural production is the necessity to take into account the specific electro-physical, technological and biological properties of the crops, which high heterogeneity greatly influences the action of the electromagnetic energy and the final result.