METHOD FOR DETERMINING PLANT GROWTH POWER Russian patent published in 2003 - IPC

FIELD: agriculture. SUBSTANCE: method involves providing germination of 100 g of seeds in sand wetted to 60% of maximum moisture capacity for 7-12 days in vegetative vessels under 8-cm thick air dried sand layer; determining percentage of sprouts germinated through sand surface. Seed germination procedure is performed after preliminary wetting for 20 min in warm water having temperature of 30 C in thermostat at constant temperature of 25 C and at illumination intensity of 8,000 lux for 12 hours per day with the use of wetted substrate such as 10% aqueous solution of polyacrylamide. Plant growth power is considered as high, when sprout germination percentage reaches at least 71%, as average, when said percentage is within the range of 61-70%, and as low, when said percentage is less than 60%. EFFECT: increased efficiency, stabilized substrate moisture content throughout the entire germination period and provision for objective evaluation of plant growth power. 1 tbl