THE QUALITY OF SUGAR BEET SEEDS AND THE WAYS OF ITS INCREASE - Ecological Consequences of Increasing Crop Productivity - page 184

including the seed stimulation. All technological operations aim at receiving the
maximum of seed quality.
The program of scientifi c-research work of Institute of Bioenergy Crops and
Sugar Beet aims on the establishing factors contributing to rapid seed germination
at low temperatures and developing method of seed preparation on seed plants with
high germination and reliability, which ensures high fi eld germination and acceler-
ated development of young plants in the fi eld. It is known that the fi eld germination
of seeds depends on many factors and, primarily, on the laboratory germination of
the sown seeds, which, in its turn, depends on several factors, biological features of a
hybrid, soil and climatic conditions of seeds growing, and post-harvest and presow-
ing preparation.
As we know, not all of the seeds give stairs after sowing. According to the data
by Ovcharov K.E. [12], some species need shell removal for seeds to germinate, oth-
ers—inhibitors reducing the content, some—metabolites enrichment, and for others
the infl uence of water, light, temperature, and other physical factors is necessary. The
response reaction of seeds on the above-mentioned actions depends on the natural spe-
cies of seeds and their physiological state, and conditional germination. Almost all of
the above-mentioned methods of increasing germination intensity are applied to sugar
beet seeds.
We applied two methods of stimulating increase of the intensity of germ germina-
tion of sugar beet seeds, mechanical way—by reducing the mechanical obstacle—seed
pericarp, which is achieved by seeds polishing and by the initial phases of germination
with its following suspension passing initiation. The latter is one of the most perspec-
tive ways of increasing the intensity of seed germination.
The process of studying the effi ciency of stimulation by the mechanical way in
order to reduce the seed injury and to increase the degree of seed polishing was carried
out in stages.
It was established that in the process of uncalibrated seeds polishing, the removal
of 26.7 percent of the mass of pericarp ensures a signifi cant increase in the intensity of
seed germination (Table 18.4).
Thus, in 48 h after seeding, 32 percent of fruits sprouted, which is 19 percent more
than in the control, where the seeds are not polished. The similar dependence is ob-
served in 72 and 96 h after seeding. Bsides even in 120 h after sowing the difference
in the number of sprouted seeds was signifi cant.
The repeated sequential polishing of seeds ensures the removal of pericarp mass
up to 30.1 percent compared with the control, which contributed to the increase of its
germination intensity especially in the early stages. The removal of 31.7 percent of
pericarp mass causes a slight injury of the seed that does not affect its germination
reducing intensity.