Regulation of the germination energy of potatoes by with low energy treatments

Abstract

Getting the future harvest begins at the stage of sprouting. Germination, periods between phenophases, and development of stolons depend on their formation. There are two main types of potato sprouts - light and shadow. The former are preferable for mechanized planting, the latter provide better conditions for potato growth. The regulation of the emergence of sprouts and their development in the pre-planting period is an important problem in agriculture. The purpose of our research was to identify the regularities of the influence of the main methods of vernalization (heating and irradiation with a light flux) on the emergence of sprouts and their further growth. The studies were carried out according to the Box-Behnken plan of the second order for a four-factor experiment, where the response function is the average time of appearance of all sprouts, the number of awakened eyes, and the length of sprouts by the end of the study. As the factors of variation, the temperature of heating tubers for 40 seconds (variation interval 30-40 °C) and three light spectra (variation interval 0-120 seconds) were chosen: 440-485 nm (blue), 500-565 nm (green), 625-740 nm (red). As a result of research, it was revealed that with the help of a single heating at a certain temperature and illumination with light spectra, it is possible to regulate the appearance and further development of shoots on potato tubers by inhibiting or stimulating them. The most optimal parameters for increasing the number of awakened sprouts in the shortest possible time and increasing the rate of sprout development have been determined: heating tubers at a temperature of 35 °C with irradiation with a light flux with a wavelength of 460-475 nm, 550-565 nm, 685-700 nm - 60 seconds.