BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SEEDS OF MOTHERWORT FIVE-BLADED DEPENDING ON THE TIME AND METHOD OF HARVESTING UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE FOOTHILL ZONE OF THE CRIMEA
The aim of the research was to specify the activity of sprouting, energy of germination, laboratory and field germination of seeds, as well as the intensity of sprout growth of motherwort five-bladed depending on the time and method of harvesting under conditions of the foothill zone of the Crimea. Long-lasting field experiment on studying motherwort five-bladed seed productivity was laid in 2015 on the territory of the Academy of Bioresources and Environmental Management (Academic Unit) of V.I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University, triple replication. Laboratory experiments were carried out in the Laboratory of seed production at the Department of Phytobiology. In the laboratory, the seeds were sown in a germination chamber between layers of wet filter paper (100 pieces in four replications) and placed in a thermostat at a temperature 20-22 °C. The activity of sprouting was determined by the time when 50 % of seeds were sprouting. The energy of germination for Leonurus quinquelobatus L. was determined on the fourth day, and the laboratory germination - on the 12<sup>th</sup> day. To determine the intensity of sprout growth, the seeds were germinated in wet sand; then the number of shoots, mass of stems and roots was calculated. Field germination was determined by sowing seeds on the experimental plot at rate100 pieces in one row of 2 m length; experiments were replicated four times. As a result of the conducted research, it was revealed that indicators of the activity of sprouting, energy of germination and laboratory germination of seeds increased up to the end of wax ripeness phase (on average - 39.5, 60.1 and 67.2 %). During separate harvesting, these figures were higher, which indicated a high intensity of the process of reutilization (48.6, 68.6 and 77.7 %, respectively). The advantage of the method of mowing plants into rolls with subsequent ripening was confirmed by the experiments on determining the intensity of sprouts growth (on average 77.1, 0.937 and 0.720 g; after direct threshing 67.9, 0.786 and 0.518 g (number of seedlings, mass of stems and roots, respectively) and field germination.