Abstract
M.M. Kornet, G.F. Dudareva, V.I. Gencheva*, O.O. Klimova, V.V. Peretiatko and O.A. Brazhko
At the current moment, in order to increase the crop yield and improve the quality of food, pharmaceutical, industrial and energy products, a search for novel environmentally friendly plant treatment agents is given a top priority. Hence the task of finding chemical regulators and stimulators of plant growth that would alter the developmental cycle of crops most effectively at the lowest toxicity level is of utmost relevance.
While studying the cytotoxic effects of plant treatment agents on sprouts of plants belonging to the Cucumis genus, a quinoline derivative (a compound under the KM-38 laboratory code) was observed to have a significant stimulating effect, which became a prerequisite for the in-depth studies that followed. The paper presents the results of laboratory studies of the effect of quinoline derivatives on monocotyledonous (soft winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)) and dicotyledonous (cultivated soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill)) plants. In order to assess its activity, the growth-regulating effect of KM-61 compound, which has a structure similar to that of main heteroauxins (indole-3-acetic acid), was investigated. The activity of compounds was examined on the basis of seed samples of soft winter wheat («Zemlyachka», «Kiriya», «Selyanka», «Kosovytsia», «Vdala») and soybean («Masha», «Opheliya», «Sedmytsia», «Sprynt», «Sharm») cultivars.
The results of the studies confirmed the existence of growth-stimulating properties of the investigated compounds. Sprouts of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants have different sensitivity to the activity of the growth regulators. KM-61 compound appears to be more efficient with regard to soft winter wheat sprouts. It caused the increase in the growth of the root system, which varied depending on a given cultivar and a concentration of the chemical agent, of up to 49% (19% in the case of a plant's hypocotyl). KM-38 compound showed a moderate effect on the cultivars of soft winter wheat under study. The biggest impact on the growth of soybean sprouts came from KM-38 plant treatment agent (stem length increased up to 50%, and the root − up to 30%), the greatest effect being noticeable with regard to the «Sharm» and «Opheliya» cultivars. It should be noted that the selected compounds exhibit low toxicity when dealing with warm-blooded animals and are capable of growth-stimulating activity even at very low concentrations (0.001-0.00005%). The obtained results show considerable promise regarding a further study of the aforementioned compounds in the direction of discovering new types of growth stimulants.