Diagnosis of seed sowing suitability as an alternative resource-saving tool

Abstract

The agricultural sector plays a key role in ensuring food security of the population which represents one of the important directions of the Long-term strategy for the development of the grain complex of the Russian Federation. In crop production, much attention is paid to resource-saving technologies that ensure increased yields. At the same time, it is important not only to increase productivity, but also to improve product quality while maintaining food safety. Of greatest interest is the set of biological, physical, chemical, and technological quality indices that characterize the consumer properties and suitability of seeds for sowing. The selection of high-quality seed material which allows obtaining not only high yields, but also consumer characteristics that determine the suitability of grain for a specific purpose, represents an additional tool for resource-saving technologies. The selection of seeds with high sowing and productive potential may be carried out by using fractional technologies for seed grading and a system for quality diagnosing using alternative indices - bioelectric potentials. This paper discusses a solution to the issue of ensuring food security through the use of diagnostic systems of seed suitability as an alternative tool of resource saving. The results of experimental studies and field tests are presented. They confirm the fact that the method of diagnosing indices of sowing qualities by bioelectrical potentials allows not only selecting high-quality seeds, but also selecting the fraction of seeds with higher potential yield. The studies have shown that fractionation of wheat seeds by aerodynamic properties and selection of a fraction by bioelectrical potentials allows increasing the yield significantly (from 1.3 to 5.6 times).