THE EFFECT OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD OF EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCIES ON THE QUALITY OF WHEAT GRAIN

Abstract

The paper presents the results of studies of how the electromagnetic field (EMF) of extremely low frequencies (ELF), magnetic induction of the EMF, and the duration of processing and storage affect the quality characteristics of wheat grain of the cultivar Shestopalivka harvested in the Odesa Region in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Treatment of grain with the EMF of the frequencies 20 and 30 Hz and with magnetic induction of 5 and 10 mT for 2–20 min reduces the germination capacity of wheat, as compared with the control, by 1–12%. As an exception, in several experiments, the germination capacity increased. The biggest increase (by 14%) was observed when the duration of treatment was 12 minutes, the frequency 30 Hz, and the magnetic induction 5 mT. Treatment of grain for 6 min with the EMF at the frequencies 10–28 Hz and with magnetic induction showed that at 10, 18–24 Hz, the germination capacity increased by 1–5%, but after 15 days, at the frequency 12–26 Hz, the germination power increased by 1–9%. A month later, with the frequency 18, 20, and 28 Hz, the germination power exceeded the control by only 2–7%, and after 10 months of storage, only the experiment with the frequency of treatment 24 Hz was at the control level. With all other frequencies, there was a significant decrease in grain germination. It has been established that treating grain 15 days prior to sowing at 14–22 Hz increases the germination capacity by 7–9%, and it reaches the values 92–94%. In the grain treated with the EMF at 10–30 Hz and stored for 14 months at the controlled air temperature 9–23°C and the relative humidity 33–82.5%, the protein content on a dry basis did not change compared with the control (16.5%). Storage of grain treated for 6 minutes with an EMF at 10–30 Hz, the magnetic induction being 10 mT, allows increasing the gluten content by 1.07–1.21 times, as compared with the control. The biggest increase in the amount of gluten is achieved at the frequency 16 Hz. Even under unfavourable conditions, at the temperature 23°C and relative air humidity 82.5%, the gluten quality goes up by 27.65 conditional units of the device VDK (1.49 times) and becomes as high as the gluten quality of grain that was preserved under far better conditions, at 9°C and the humidity 33 %. When grain is EMF-treated for 6 min at 10–30 Hz, with the magnetic induction being 10 mT, under different storage conditions, this most often affects the content of stearic and gondoic acids. The biggest changes in them were noted during storage at 9°C and the relative air humidity 82%: gondoic acid increased by 12.5–18.7%, and stearic acid decreased by 15.5–25.0%. Under any other conditions of EMF treatment and storage of wheat grain, changes in fatty acids are within the allowable error.