Pre-Sowing Stimulation of Wheat with UV-B Radiation of XeCl-Excilamp

The share of UVB spectrum range (290-320 nm) in the solar radiation flux accounts for an average of about 1.5% of the radiant flux on the planet. Taking into account the fact that plants adapt to living conditions in the course of evolution, it can be assumed that the flow of UVB radiation is also used by plants, but at the level of subdoses that reach the Earth's surface. The aim of current work is to study the growth and development of spring wheat (“Irgina” cultivar) when treated with subdoses of UVB radiation. For processing, XeCl-excilamp (High Current Electronic Institute SB RAS) radiation was used. The spectrum of this lamp is a narrow band with a maximum at a wavelength of 308 nm, which corresponds well to the UVB range. In the course of study, the pre-sowing UVB radiation dose values for seeds were found, under the influence of which wheat sprouts had an increase in such indicators as the length and dry weight of the root, the length of the leaf and the ratio of the root/shoot masses. It was shown, that as plants developed, the nitrogen balance index was always higher in the experiment with radiation in plants whose seeds were subjected to pre-sowing treatment with UVB radiation. This indicates the activation of growth and development processes in plants, as well as the accelerated absorption and assimilation of nitrogen compounds. Under the action of dose 0.5 J/cm2 the weighting parameters grain productivity such as weight of grains per ear, spike weight, weight of 1000 pcs seeds and the grain yield exceeded the check by 10.2%. The UVB processing did not affect the quality of the wheat grain. Based on the obtained data, it is concluded that the use of XeCl-excilamp UVB radiation for pre-sowing stimulation of wheat is promising.