Modes of treating pre-sowing grain seeds with ozone

Abstract

Ozonation enables to abandon the pre-sowing seeds treatment with pesticides, reduce their possible use. The effectiveness of ozone application equals to that of chemical disinfection. However, during pre-sowing ozone treatment of seeds, it is difficult to maintain the specified operating modes of the ozonizer. Therefore, it is much easier to vary the operation time with regards to the capabilities of a particular ozonation plant. Thus, the most rational modes of pre-sowing ozone treatment of seeds were determined based on the crop and the average concentration of ozone in the ozone-air mixture. The ozonation time should be in the range 23 … 41, 32 … 52, 40 … 60 and 17 … 45 min during pre-sowing ozone treatment of the seeds of winter wheat, spring barley, oats and maize with ozone concentration in the ozone-air mixture equal to 4.21, 2.57, 1.45 and 1.87 mg/m3, respectively. If the ozonizer fails to maintain a specified operating mode, then the dose of ozone treatment should be regarded. The ozone treatment dose for winter wheat varies from 96 to 234 min mg/m3, for spring barley – from 84 to 116 min mg/m3, for oats – from 45 to 86 min mg/m3, for maize – from 32 to 75 min mg/m3. In this case, it will be necessary to calculate the ozonation time depending on the actual concentration of ozone in the ozone-air mixture. The average duration of pre-sowing ozone treatment of grain crops is 38 minutes.