The effect of pre-sowing treatment of spring barley seeds with an alternating electric field on productivity

The use of physical methods for pre-sowing treatment of grain crop seeds helps to improve productivity and is an economically justified and environmentally friendly approach. One of these methods is pre-sowing treatment of seeds with an electric field of alternating voltage of industrial frequency (EFAV). There has been proposed an optimal scheme for treating barley seeds with EFAV, which increases their laboratory germination and forms more powerful sprouts, but the effect of this method on productivity has not been studied. The purpose of the current study was to establish the effect of pre-sowing seed treatment of the spring barley variety ‘Vakula’ with the EFAV in the field trial on vegetation, productivity, and yield structure elements. The study was conducted on the experimental plot of the ABEI in 2018–2020. The objects of the study were the seeds of the spring barley variety ‘Vakula’, reproduced in 2017–2019. The seeds were treated with an EFAV with a strength of 0.5 kV/cm on an experimental device for 20, 40 and 60 seconds, and then they were sown on the fifth day after treatment. The plot area was 100 m2 , with a threefold repetition and systematic placement of plots. The harvesting was carried out by direct combining, the harvested crop was immediately weighed in the field and brought to 100% purity and 14 % humidity. It was found that all tested variants of the time of pre-sowing seed treatment during all years of testing resulted in productivity improvement by 6.9–13 %. The maximum yield increase was identified in the 40-second variant in the extremely arid year. The greatest yield increase (11.2 %) was recorded with treatment for 40 seconds on average over three years. Grain productivity has improved due to an increase in the number of plants per 1 m2 , 1000-grain weight and productive tillering. 1000-grain weight increased by 0.7–4.2% in 2018, by 0.35–1.53 % in 2019 and by 3.2–3.9 % in 2020.

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