EFFICACY OF SOYBEAN SEEDS SORPTION DRYING AND PREHARVEST TREATMENT WITH DESICCANTS AS A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of soybean seed treatment with desiccants and through post-harvest drying. A total of 120 quadruplicate study sites were divided into two groups of 60, one of which was not sprayed with desiccants (control sites), and the other received desiccant treatment (experimental sites). A week after the beginning of the experiment, seeds from experimental sites had 1.5 times less moisture content than seeds from control sites (p ≤ 0.05). The peak lipase activity of seeds was recorded during the first 50 days of storage. The lipoxygenase activity was found to increase between 50 and 100 days of seed storage. The activity of lipase in seeds increased significantly at 60 °C (p ≤ 0.05), but with the subsequent increase in temperature to 80 and 100 °C, a noticeable reduction was recorded (p ≤ 0.01). For lipoxygenase, a similar decrease in activity reaction was noticed at temperatures of drying agents starting from 80 °C. For other factors, no similar results were recorded. This means that the activity of enzymes, in particular, lipase and lipoxygenase, plays a key role in the physiological processes of soybean seeds during storage, but can be inhibited at temperatures starting from 80 °C. Desiccants application accelerates the maturation of the seed to the necessary moisture content for two weeks. After seven days of treatment with Reglon, the yellowing of beans and leaves in the lower part of soybean plants was noted as the moisture content of leaves and beans decreased almost twice to 35%, while on the control site, these values were 48% (p ≤ 0.05).