SUMMARY
This investigation was undertaken to determine if exposing soybean
and corn seeds to an electric field would produce a change in the rate of
germination of these seeds and if this change would be affected by
electric field intensity, time of exposure and type of electric field
used (i.e., a 60 hertz or a static field). The results indicate that the
germination rate was changed by the applied treatments for both corn and
soybeans regardless of whether they received a presoaking treatment or
not. The type of electric field used appears to have a significant
effect at the 1 percent level on the mean time required for 50 percent of
the seeds to germinate when dry soybeans or soaked corn was used.
Field intensity caused the mean time for 50 percent of the seeds to
germinate to increase as the field intensity increased for dry corn and
soaked soybeans. At the 5 percent level of significance soaked corn
showed similar results. No effect of field intensity was detected when
working with dry soybeans.
Exposure time either had no effect or the effect was too small to
detect for both seed types in either the air dry or soaked condition.
The information gleaned from this research showed that different
seeds respond differently to different electrical environments. Their
response also depends on their condition when treated. However, the significant
effects indicate tliat the possibility of using electric fields to
decrease the rate of germination of seeds is not unreasonable. These tv;c
facts, the differential response of different seeds and the retardation
of the germination rate, would indicate that electric fields may develop
as a new method of weed control.