Influence of pre-sowing treatment of common spruce seeds on their laboratory germination

Norway spruce is a valuable resource with a wide range of applications in the logging industry and construction. Spruce is widely used for decorative purposes, in medicine and in the production of essential oils. In addition to all of the above, spruce plays a very high ecological role. The article presents the results of studies on the effect of pre-sowing seed treatment with ultraviolet irradiation on laboratory germination of Norway spruce seeds. The aim of the study is to identify the most effective time for irradiating spruce seeds, which allows obtaining maximum laboratory germination. An ultraviolet LED matrix was used, in which 97.57% of the radiation was in the UVA zone. During the treatment, heating of the seeds occurred simultaneously, the temperature of which was determined by the time of UV treatment. On average, the laboratory germination of spruce seeds with treatment for 40 minutes at a temperature of 50 ° C was 92%. Thus, this option has an advantage over other treatment options, consisting in increasing the laboratory germination of seeds by 27 - 30%.