Influence of a New Biostimulant on the Germination and Germination Energy of Rice, Spring Barley and Winter Wheat Seeds

The effect of treating rice seeds (Oryza sativa japonica) of the Koshihikari variety, spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) of the Moskovsky 86 variety and winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) of the Nemchinovskaya 85 variety with a new biostimulator (BS) on the germination and development of seedlings was studied. The biostimulator was obtained at the All-Russian Research Institute of Phytopathology using the developed technology of liquid-phase catalytic oxidation of starch-containing raw materials. The biostimulator (concentrate with a molecular weight ≥ 30 kDa) contains a complex of phytohormones of cytokinic and gibberellic nature, free amino acids, and hydroxycinnamic acids. Soaking rice seeds in BS solution at concentrations of 10^–4, 10^–5, and 10^–6 ml/l stimulated their germination and increased root length by 2.6–2.7 times. A more intensive accumulation of seedling biomass (43% more than in the control) was observed when using BS at a concentration of 10^–6 ml/l. After treating the surface of spring barley seeds with a biostimulator at a concentration of 10^–6 ml/l, an increase in germination energy, laboratory germination, length of the main germinal root, and the wet mass of roots and seedlings were noted. The trends towards changes in the morphophysiological parameters of the development of winter wheat seedlings largely coincided with the results for barley. The highest rates were observed when using BS at a concentration of 10^–6 ml/l. The data obtained indicated the positive effect of the new biostimulator on the germination of seeds of various grain crops.