Señal Fisioeléctrica de semillas Lens culinaris en germinación con sustrato de hidrogel y agujas hipodérmicas como electrodos

Physioelectric signal of germinating Lens culinaris seeds with hydrogel substrate and hypodermic needles as electrodes

Abstract

Today, ensuring food security is a shared challenge among institutions and researchers, especially in the academic field. In this sense, experimentation in modern agriculture seeks new ways to increase the production of nutritious foods through sustainable cultivation techniques that sustainably produce healthy fruits, thereby reducing the harmful effects still inherent in traditional industrial agricultural production that negatively impact people and the environment. In this sense, the germination stage in seeds is crucial for plant development. On the one hand, it can enhance optimal conditions for the production of strong, vigorous, and resilient seedlings. On the other hand, it can compromise optimal physiological development or even lead to seed loss under genetic improvement conditions.
From this perspective, some studies have developed methods that have yielded good results and are low-cost, such as the characterization of electrical signals associated with variables of physical effects generated in plants. This study aims to characterize the electrical signal of the phases of physical transformations in Lens culinaris seed samples during the germination stage. It attempts
to identify the signal associated with the imbibition phase, and primarily with the emergence of the epigeal reticulum, by means of simultaneous real-time voltage sampling over time using an oscilloscope, remote visual and graphic tracking, and computational data processing to characterize the response corresponding to each phase in the seed samples. To obtain these data, it was necessary to use abundant seeds with high germination rates for short periods of time. A measurement system was also designed to process the data using affordable, low-cost electrodes (hypodermic needles). Preliminary results indicate that the seeds exhibit low electrical activity
during the imbibition period, but this activity can be perceived through frequency analysis as a characteristic signal of this phase.
Graphic peaks associated with key transformations such as the emergence of the reticulum are also observed. Therefore, it can be established that in the medium term, this study will contribute to a better understanding of how this electrical activity relates to the physiological changes and graphic signals that characterize each phase of seed germination, and in the long term, the effect these
characteristics can have on other stages of the food production process through physioelectrical measurements.