Application of the microphenological phase scale for the process of controlled germination of wheat grain

The current task of the food industry is to introduce balanced food products into the diet of Russians that meet modern requirements of quality and nutritional value. As one of the ways to implement this direction, we can single out such a technological process as the germination of grain crops in order to obtain raw ingredients that have a number of positive characteristics and technological properties. In the article, the authors propose the use of the concept of "controlled germination" as a natural regulated way to improve the nutritional value, technological properties and sensory characteristics of grain crops, carried out using the most modern technologies, provided that high safety requirements of the final product are met. For an effective tool for managing this process, a scale of microphenological phases of controlled germination of wheat grain was developed and tested. The scale is based on the use of a software tool for grain phenotyping Seed Counter, with which it is possible to determine the size characteristics of each instance of wheat grain from the estimated mass and obtain an array of data to monitor the germination process in full. The developed scale is proposed as an identifier of four microphenological phases in the technology of controlled germination of wheat grain and includes the following phases: the swelling phase (the beginning of the process of hydrolysis of high-molecular endosperm compounds and their transfer to a soluble state); the growth point phase (an increase in the width of the wheat grain, the appearance of a sprout from under the fruit and seed shells); the germ phase (the appearance of a sprouted germ, an increase in the length of the wheat grain) and the germ organ formation phase (differentiation of germ roots 1-2 mm long, the formation of germ organs longer than 1.5 mm).