Influence of chronic radioactive pollution in the conditions of the Southern Non-black earth region on the Pinus sylvestris L. seed productivity

In conditions of radioactive contamination, one of the criteria for the state of the female reproductive sphere of woody plants is their ability to form seeds, the biological qualities of which are assessed by germination and weight. The research was carried out on the territory of the Southern Non-Black Earth Region of Russia in the plantings of the Krasnogorsk district forestry of the Bryansk region and the Educational and Experimental Forestry Enterprise of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "BGITU". The exposure dose rate was measured at a height of 1 m from the ground surface and on the soil with a DRG - 01T dose meter with an accuracy of 1.0 µR/ h, annually at constant reference points (at least 5 on each sample area) in a five-fold repeti-tion. Seed germination was carried out on a growing apparatus. When processing experimental data, the main statis-tical indicators for each variation series were calculated: the arithmetic mean with error, the mean square deviation, the coefficient of variation, and the accuracy of the experiment. Chronic ionizing radiation causes an increase in the length, width, and weight of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) cones. As the level of ionizing radiation increases, the seed weight of Scots pine (P. sylvestris L.) decreases. The germination rate of Scots pine (P. sylvestris L.) seeds from plantations with chronic ionizing radiation is quite high (more than 65%). Among ungerminated seeds, nonvi-able seeds with endosperm and embryo predominate. With an increase in the level of ionizing radiation, the total number of empty and embryoless seeds naturally increases.