The practice of using a sieveless separator for pre-sowing treatment of common pine seeds (Pinus sylvestris)

Abstract

The paper presents the results of studies on the effect of calibrating Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) seeds on the morpho-biological characteristics of seedlings. The studies were carried out in 2017-2019. Scots pine seeds were used as the object of research. In the course of the research, laboratory and field methods were used. The seeds were calibrated using a sieveless separator, which makes it possible to obtain several tens of seed fractions with a size gap of 0.02 mm. It was found that plants of large seeds were characterized by a higher starting growth. Throughout the growing season, the advantage of these fractions persisted. Due to the higher growth rate of small fraction plants, the difference between plants decreased by the end of the growing season. By the end of the first year of vegetation, there was some advantage of large seedlings, the height of which varied from 6.95 cm (second fraction) to 7.18 cm (fourth fraction). The seedlings of these fractions were characterized by the highest uniformity (17.0%). At the end of the second growing season, the most intensive growth was noted in seedlings of large seeds, due to which a large planting material is formed, characterized by high uniformity.