Impact of Ultrasounds on the Share of Hard Seeds in Lotus corniculatus L.

Abstract

Research has focused on 4 size groups of bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) (Ø 1.0-1.6 mm) and 10 variants of ultrasound treatments with different intensities and exposure times (0.11-2.72 W/cm2 and 10-160 seconds). After treating the bird’s-foot trefoil seed groups with ultrasounds, the bird’s-foot trefoil seeds were put into Petri vases for germination and the following parameters were measured: germinating energy (after 10 days), germinating faculty (after 21 days) and share of hard bird’s-foot trefoil seeds (after 31 days). Research results show a very significant decrease of the share of hard bird’s-foot trefoil seeds in the groups of medium- and large-size bird’s-foot trefoil seeds treated with ultrasounds, compared to the control variant (no group seeds) or to the small-size bird’s-foot trefoil seed group treated with ultrasounds. Intensity and exposure time do not correlate with the share of hard bird’s-foot trefoil seeds.

Keywords

• hard seeds
• lotus corniculatus l.
• seed size
• ultrasounds