Evaluation of the influence of Polygonum aviculare L. extracts on the development of microgreens in cereal crops

This article is devoted to study the effects of Polygonum aviculare L. (bird's knotweed) extracts at various concentrations (1.25%, 2.5% and 5.0%) on the development of microgreens in four cereal crops: common barley Hordeum vulgare L., soft wheat Triticum aestivum L., common rye Secale cereale L., and common oat Avena sativa L. Microgreens were grown in a phytotron on soil for 7 days. Germination energy and vigor, as well as morphometric parameters (average shoot weight and height), and ascorbic acid content in leaf mass were assessed for the experimental crops. The response of microgreens from various crops was shown to be species-specific and to a lesser extent dependent on extract concentrations. All crop species showed an increase in shoot weight and length with the addition of a 1.25% Polygonum aviculare extract. However, with further increases in the concentration of the extract, no significant increase in shoot weight was observed in rye microgreens, while a clear positive correlation between these parameters was observed for all other crops (the maximum increase in weight and height was 15-18%). No such clear positive effect was observed for seed germination and vigor: in most cases, these parameters did not differ significantly from the control values. A study of the effect of knotweed extracts on ascorbic acid content in experimental cultures demonstrates a positive effect of this component on biochemical processes in young plants; the content of this substance increases by 5-12% (depending on the microgreen species) as the concentration of Polygonum aviculare metabolites increases. The results of the experiment show that plant extracts with pronounced allelopathic properties can be used as biostimulants for the development of certain types of microgreens.