The effect of microwave treatment on the relative drought resistance of spring and winter cereals

Background. Increasing the drought resistance of the main food crops in the face of increasing climate and weather changes on the planet is one of the most urgent tasks facing scientists. The need to find new effective, inexpensive, safe methods led to the appearance of this work. The purpose of the research is to determine the nature of the effect of microwave treatment on the drought resistance of spring and winter cereals. Materials and methods. The relative drought resistance was determined by the method of germination of seeds in a solution of osmotic (sucrose). The research objects were the seeds of spring wheat varieties Novosibirskaya 31, spring barley varieties Sibiryak, spring oat varieties Kreol, winter rye varieties Petrovna, soft winter wheat varieties Moscowskaya 56, winter triticale varieties Omskaya. The experimental scheme included 8 variants combining different concentrations of sucrose solutions(1.4, 7.4, 16.6 %) and microwave processing (magnetron frequency 2.45 GHz, power 0.42 W, exposure 11 sec.). The control was a variant with distilled water, without microwave treatment. The seeds were germinated at a temperature of 21 °C for seven days. On the seventh day, seed germination was determined and expressed as a percentage of the control. Results. The presence of increased osmotic pressure during the germination of cereal seeds (without microwave treatment) leads to a decrease in the number of seedlings. An increase in the concentration of sucrose in the solution reduces the number of sprouted viable seeds. However, the degree of this decrease is more pronounced in spring crops. The effect of high osmotic pressure on germinating seeds (without preliminary microwave treatment) leads to the fact that all the studied winter cereals belong to the group with medium drought resistance, spring cereals – to the group of weakly resistant ones. Preliminary microwave treatment of seeds significantly increases the drought resistance of cereal seedlings, which is especially pronounced in spring crops. Conclusions. The electromagnetic field has a positive effect on the level of drought resistance of winter and spring cereals. The stimulating effect of the microwave EMF is more intense in relation to spring crops – soft wheat, barley, oats, however, it also has a positive effect on the resistance to water deficiency of winter crops – rye, wheat, triticale. At the same time, the most significant increase in relative drought resistance during microwave treatment was registered for spring barley seeds of the Sibiryak variety.