THE IMPORTANCE OF AXIAL GRADIENTS OF ELECTRIC POTENTIALS IN PLANT LIFE IN THE CONDITIONS OF MICROGRAVITATION
An installation has been developed that modifies the unilateral action of the Earth's gravitational field on the plant. Microgravity is provided by imitation of weightlessness by rotating the vessel with growing plants in a vertical plane with a constant slow speed (2 rpm), at which the effect of centrifugal forces does not have a significant effect on the spatial orientation of plants in the process of their development. In this case, plants experience the influence of the vector of gravity from different sides, and it does not have time to adapt to gravity. The corn hybrid KVS-701 demonstrated that under microgravity conditions depolarization of the axial bioelectrical polarity of the plant and depression of the gradients of bioelectric potentials (BEP) to values of 0,1–0,2 mV/cm, under which a significant deterioration in the growth and development of plants is observed. Restoration of the axial bioelectrical polarity of the plant by external low-energy electric potentials (NEP) to the natural level (of the order of 1 mV/cm) leads to an increase in the adaptability of the grain culture to microgravity and the restoration of growth indices, which is confirmed by biometric data.