Abstract
The laser stimulation of seeds is regarded as a modern method of seed enhancement. Our study evaluated the productivity and health of soybean plants resulting from the coherent irradiation of seeds and irradiation of an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculum. The two-factor pot experiment took into account (1) the type of irradiated biological material (seeds, AMF inoculum, and seeds and inoculum) and (2) the means of irradiation (red laser—LR, blue laser—LB, red and blue laser—LR + LB, and control). Seed weight per plant, pod number per plant, root weight, the Fv/Fm fluorescence parameters, and the health status of the aboveground and underground parts of the plants were assessed. Stimulation with a laser light was shown to have a positive effect on the productivity and health of soybean plants. Significantly better effects can be obtained by stimulating the seeds alone. The stimulation of seeds treated with AMF inoculum slightly reduced the productivity of the plants. However, with regards to the conditions of plants, the treatment of seeds with AMF inoculum and laser irradiation was shown to reduce the incidence of Septoria brown spots.
Highlights
Soybeans are one of the most important crops worldwide
A significantly lower seed weight per plant was noted following the stimulation of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculum with LB or LR + LB laser light compared to the combined stimulation of both the seeds and inoculum (Figure 1)
Every type of laser stimulation significantly reduced the incidence of this disease, with the best health observed in the treatments in which seeds alone were stimulated with LB and LR + LB lasers
Summary
Soybeans are one of the most important crops worldwide. Soybean production amounted to 265 million metric tons (MMT) in 2010 and increased to 333.7 MMT in 2019. A very large increase in soybean production was recorded in Central Europe—from 249 MMT in 2010 to 15,540 MMT in 2019 [1]. There are a number of important environmental constraints that threaten soybean production by directly reducing the seed yield and seed quality. The most dangerous for soybean growth and development are pathogenic diseases. Soybean plants are susceptible to various diseases (root rot, ascochytosis, anthracnose, septoriosis—brown spot, fusariosis, cercospora leaf blight, purple seed stain, and Fusarium browning of pods) throughout their growing season. Fungal diseases can decrease the soybean productivity to 50%, while bacterial diseases caused yield losses between 15% and 60%. Reducing the impact of pathogens is a challenge in all agricultural production systems [3,4]
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