Abstract: Today, soybean is seen worldwide as a basic protein plant, used both for human food and valuable animal feed. Success in soybean cultivation, like in other crops, depends to a large extent on the selection of the right variety for the crop. Despite the many advantages of soybean, the plant has some adaptive limitations, e.g. lack of tolerance to cold. So we should seek soybean varieties that are resistant to abiotic stress, or increase their resistance to this stress through stimulation of seeds before sowing, or through the use of appropriate preparations (through soil, foliage, seeds), e.g. biostimulators of plant growth. In this study, synergistic effects between Near Infrared Radiation (NIR) and algal extracts on the germination of soybean seeds (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) were sought. NIR generally works at the quantum level (affects the atomic and molecular level), but also at the level of cells and tissues in plants. It has long been known that the use of near infrared light improves seed germination, although the mechanism of this effect is not yet fully understood. NIR radiation is captured by special photoreceptors (i.e. phytochromes, cryptochromes and phototropins), and subsequent plants generate a wide range of specific physiological responses through these receptors. A special NIR system was used to irradiate soybean seeds. To the best of our knowledge, this radiation was used for the first time to biostimulate soybean seeds. Earlier, the influence of other light ranges (e.g. green, red, blue) on photosynthetic activity, growth and yield of different plants, except for seeds, was analysed. NIR, the illumination time of 3 and 5 minutes, was also combined with the use of algae extracts (50 and 100%) used to soak soybean seeds to stimulate seedling growth. Algae are known as a rich source of biologically active compounds that can stimulate plant growth. They are an extremely valuable raw material due to the presence of many bioactive substances, which have a wide range of applications in many industries as well as in agriculture. Algae contain a rich set of phytohormones (e.g. cytokinins, auxins, abscisic acid), amino acids, micro and macroelements, polyphenols, pigments, vitamins, which are responsible for the growth and development of plants and increasing resistance to pathogens and abiotic factors of the environment (e.g. temperature change, frost, precipitation, drought, etc.). The study confirmed that the applied physical (NIR) and chemical (algae extracts) factors stimulate the germination ability of soybean seedlings, which results in faster and uniform plant emergence. NIR, irradiation time 5 min, had a more positive effect on the stimulation of seedlings of the examined species. The 100% algae extract had a more stimulating effect on the tested seed material, while the differences between the concentrations were statistically insignificant.

Biography: I am a scientist from Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Seed Production at Wroc?0?0aw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Poland. My main topic of scientific work is plant breeding, crop cultivation (agricultural plants) and seed production. Last research topics are connected with: application of modern methods in seeds conditioning; Increase soybean productivity with different seed stimulation technologies; stimulation of the germination ability of soybean seeds under the influence of biologically active compounds extracted from algae; how long bacteria Bradyrhizobium japonicum are able to survive in soil under conditions of southern Poland and eastern Germany?; studies on soybean root profile development; soybean isoflavones; agroecological principles – sustainable agriculture. A leader of an international project which is devoted to a high protein plant - soybean (Gycine max) and faba bean (Vicia faba), entitled “Increasing productivity and sustainability of European plant protein production by closing the grain legume yield gap”, acronym LegumeGap.