Justification of flax-pulling term for obtaining seeds with high sowing qualities
The term of flax-pulling with the single-phase harvesting with threshing and without drying of flax heap for obtaining seeds with high sowing qualities was determined. Seeds, separated from immature bolls in phases of green and early yellow ripeness, preserved green and yellow-green color during 6 months. Seeds derived from bolls in phase of yellow and full ripeness were mostly brown. Seeds, ripened in bolls on pulled stalks and in bolls, cut off from the stems, even when flax was pulled in the green ripeness phase, had brown color and lustre after drying, typical for flax seeds. Shrunk seeds and pellicles were absent. After 6 months of storage the seeds extracted from bolls in phase of green and early yellow ripeness were characterized by lower rates of germination energy in comparison with seeds threshed in phase of yellow and full ripeness. Therefore, to obtain seeds with high germination quality and high thousand-seed weight without artificial drying of flax heap it would be well to start flax-pulling and threshing not earlier than in the phase of yellow and full ripeness. The premature harvesting in the phases of green or early yellow ripeness of seeds with subsequent threshing of seeds from bolls leads to decrease in their sowing qualities.