Application of electrical technologies for pre-sowing treatment of spring barley seeds. Part 2. Seeds treatment stimulates the development of seedlings’ root system

Pre-sowing treatment of spring barley seeds with an electric field of alternating voltage of industrial frequency (hereinafter AEF) leads to an increase in their germination and germination energy. Since the root system of barley plants consists of two parts - primary embryonic and secondary nodal, we studied the effect of pre-sowing seeds treatment with AEF of spring barley two varieties on the formation of seedlings primary root system. Treatment of seeds with AEF with electric field strength of 5 kV/cm was carried out in a laboratory setup for 40 seconds, and after four days the seeds were germinated in rolls of filter paper. The length of each root of 7-day-old seedlings and their sum were determined. It was found that seeds treatment with AEF leads to an increase in the length of all seedling roots from 8 to 29% on average for varieties but does not increase their number. The greatest increase in length was noted at the first to fourth roots. Seeds treatment with AEF somewhat equa-lizes the length of the first four roots, which is manifested in a slight decrease in coefficient of variation (Cvar), but significantly increases the Cvar values of fifth and sixth roots length. Seeds treatment does not change the distribution of the proportions of each root length in their total length: the length of the first root in the control and in the experiment is 22%, the length of the sixth root is 11%. Evaluation of the correlation between the values of the seedling roots total length increase and the increase in the length of each root as a percentage of control after seed treatment with AEF made it possible to reveal very close values of the coefficients of correlation the growth in the length of the first, second and third roots (r = 0,93; r = 0,94 and r = 0,92, respectively) with an increase in the total length of the seedling roots. Therefore, it is advisable to use, when evaluating the results of pre-sowing seed treatment, not the absolute values of the first embryonic root length, as it is often done, but the increment of the first root.