EFFECTS OF BISCHOPHYTE IN ONTOGENESIS OF SPRING BARLEY VARIETIES

Abstract

Spring barley is an important food, feed and industrial crop, the cultivation scale of which is much small-
er than the current national need for it. Prolonged field experiments and the practice of growing crops have
shown that the pre-treatment of their seeds (primarily the sown areas) by bischofite has a positive effect on
their further growth and development. The article presents the results of studying the influence of electro-
chemical treatment with bischofite solutions in order to obtain solutions with a complex of antibacterial
properties, the use of which can be recommended for pre-sowing grain treatment of spring barley and pro-
tection of plants against fungi. The experiments on cultivating crops have shown that this enabled to increase
the yields by two-three times, and to use it for disinfection of domestic wastewaters and industrial sewage at
agricultural enterprises. The technological characteristics of using electromechanical bischofite solution
were considered in this study and it was found that pre-sowing soaking of spring barley seeds in 1.5 % and
2.0 % bischofite solutions had a negative effect on both germination energy and laboratory germination.
Under the effect of the solution at a concentration of 1.5 % as compared with control, the value of seeds’
germination energy decreased by 7%, and at using 2.0 % solution – by 23 %. Seed germination decreased by
13 and 28 %, respectively. In addition, it was found that 1% aqueous bischofite solution is the most effective
concentration when soaking spring barley seeds for “Helios” and “Parnas” varieties. Soaking the seeds of
“Vakula” spring barley variety showed the stimulation of the growth processes at the early stages of onto-
genesis, as well as its further growth and development, increasing the yield, fodder and nutritional qualities
of the grain. It gas been established that at a concentration of 1.0 % bischofite aqueous solution, the germi-
nation energy is the highest, while at the concentration of 1.5 %, for the majority of the used barley samples,
there has been a slowdown in germination and plant development. The stimulating effect of 1.0 % bischofite
solution on germination energy, laboratory germination of seeds, as well as on the growth rates of barley
plants (the area of leaf surface, weight of fresh and dry matter of aboveground part and roots) have been
shown. Increasing the concentration of the solution to 1.5 % and 2.0 % has resulted in decreasing the values
of the studied parameters. The results obtained confirm the prospects of using bischofite for pre-sowing
treatment of spring barley seeds.