Abstract
The increase in the yield capacity of cereal spike crops under the current change of the climatic conditions in Ukraine will have a positive tendency in the nearest future. However, sustainable grain production under sharp weather fluctuations is possible only with the agro-technological systems' improvement. The pre-sowing seed treatment with chemical synthesis pesticides remains the primary method in the agricultural industry today. However, pesticides inevitably have a negative influence on the ecosystem of any level. A more environmentally friendly seed treatment method under the intensive technology is the combination of microwave seed irradiation and seed incrustation with the plant growth regulators that increase the cereal crops' yield capacity up to 15–20 %. It is possible to reduce the negative influence of chemical measures on the quality of the cereal crops seeds by using for the seed treatment a mixture of a treatment agent with the preparations having the stimulating properties. The most promising among all physical methods of the pre-sowing seed treatment is the microwave technology, which suppresses the entire complex of the seed infection and can become an alternative to the chemical method of plant protection. The universal character and practical importance of MW technologies combined with the growth-regulating substances consist not only in the increase in the yield capacity of the field crops but also in reducing the technogenic load on the environment. The peculiarity of EMF of EHF application in agricultural production is the necessity to consider the crops' specific electro-physical, technological, and biological properties. High heterogeneity greatly influences the electromagnetic action energy and the final result.
Highlights
In Ukraine, wheat is the main food crop
In 2017 a definition of fungi by cultural and morphological characteristics testified that small-spore fungi of genus Alternaria spp. prevailed in the mycobiota of winter wheat seeds in two variants: in control (57.8%) and the variant with the use of Fitosporin-M (72%) (Fig.1)
Analysis of grain material from different Ukraine regions showed a high percentage of infection with fungi, the wheat crop was 2-3 times treated with fungicides. 44.6 % of Alternaria spp. and 38.4 % of Fusarium spp. were isolated from wheat seeds from Sumy oblast in 2015 (Mykhalska et al, 2019)
Summary
In Ukraine, wheat is the main food crop. The area under this crop equals 6·106 ha; the wheat yield is 2.5·107 t annually. The researchers paid much attention to the most pathogenic and widely spread mycoflora species of wheat seed, mainly to produce mycotoxins. Fusarium graminearum (Gibberella zeae), F. avenaceum (G. avenacea), and F. culmorum were the most widely spread species of grain crops in Europe in early 2000s (Bottalico & Perrone, 2002). These three species dominated in wheat grains from Denmark with a maximum accumulation of only one mycotoxin DON (Nielsen et al, 2011). The main task of chemical agents is to control dangerous pathogens, which were shown in many scientific studies Their application has negative results: phytotoxic action, destruction of soil microflora, mycorrhizal fungi (Channabasava et al, 2015). Studies of seed microbiota, its variability, and the effect of seed treatment on the microbial complex formation are quite relevant
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