Pre-Sowing E-Beam and X-Ray Irradiation of Wheat Seeds to Enhance Yield and Improve Phytopathogenic Status of Crops

The two-year research involving laboratory and field studies supported by Geant4 computer simulation is aimed at determining the optimal parameters of 1M accelerated electrons and 80k X-ray pre-planting irradiation of wheat seeds in order to find the optimal dose range which increases the crop yield while making wheat plants more resistant to fungal diseases caused by species of the genus Septoria. During the laboratory studies we measured the germination rate and biometric properties of plants, as well as the type, number, and average diameter of fungi found in the irradiated and non-irradiated seeds after irradiation with electrons and X-rays with the dose range 2–1000 Gy. Following the laboratory studies showing that the doses exceeding 30Gy decreased the germination rate of wheat, field studies evaluated the impact of pre-planting irradiation with the doses in the range of 5Gy–30Gy on the wheat productivity and the rate of fungal diseases in wheat plants grown from irradiated and non-irradiated seeds. It has been found that the dose range 5Gy–15Gy is more preferable for pre-planting wheat irradiation, both for e-beam and X-rays, since it increases the crop yield while making wheat plants more resistant to fungal diseases caused by species of the genus Septoria. The X-ray dose of 15Gy is found to be the most effective since it increased the yield up to 40% and also suppressed the Septoria glume blotch up to 40%. Since seed irradiation requires a particularly delicate approach given that the goal of irradiation is not only to reduce the rate of fungal diseases in the plants but also to increase the crop yield without detriment to the soil and the plant itself, consistency of dose uniformity across the seeds during pre-planting irradiation ensures the high reliability and repeatability of the irradiation effect. Our approach to irradiation planning with the use of Geant4 computer simulation allows us to precisely estimate the dose distribution in individual seeds and the distribution of radiation-chemical yield of radicals occurring as result of radiolysis in order to predict the effect of pre-planting irradiation and select the optimal irradiation parameters for maximizing the yield and crop quality.