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International Agrophysics
publisher:Institute of Agrophysics
Polish Academy of Sciences
Lublin, Poland
ISSN: 0236-8722


vol. 10, nr. 2 (1996)

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Effect of the laser exposure of seeds on the yield and chemical composition of sugar beet roots
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R. Koper1, S. Wójcik2, B. Kornas-Czuczwar1, U. Bojarska2
1 Department of Physics, Agricultural University, Akademicka 13,20-950 Lublin, Poland
2 Institute of Plant Cultivation, Agricultural University, Akademicka 15, 20-950 Lublin, Poland

vol. 10 (1996), nr. 2, pp. 103-108
abstract The purpose of the research was to characterize the effect of the pre-sowing laser biostimula-tion of sugar beet seeds on the biometric features, yielding and chemical composition of sugar beet roots. Four varieties of sugar beets were studied: Colibri, Evita, Kawetina, and Maria. Their seeds were biostimulated during free falling with divergent He-Ne laser beams (40 mW), placed one upon another. The experiments were conducted ace. to the split-plot method in 3 repetitions. Before the harvesting, 20 plants were measured biometrically for the length of leaves, weight of leaves, sticking out of roots over the surface of soil, length, weight, diameter, and circumference of roots. During the harvest, the yield of roots and leaves was specified and after the harvest the chemical analysis was made to check the plant dry mass, the content of sugar, soluble ash, alpha-amine nitrogen, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu. The results of the research showed beneficial effects of the laser pre-sowing stimulation of sugar beet seeds. In all the combinations concerning the biostimulated seeds, the yield of roots was elevated from 3,2 to 4,5 t/ha, which means an 8-10 % increase when compared to the control (non-biostimulated) seeds. The sugar content was also elevated after the laser biostimulation, which caused an increase in the biological yield for about 1 t/ha independently of the variety in comparison with the control.
keywords laser biostimulation, yielding of sugar beet roots, chemical composition of sugar beet roots