Abstract
The influence of short-term microwave irradiation on the process of seed extraction from Scots pine cones was investigated in this study. Cones from the Brzesko Forest District (near Kraków, southern Poland) were collected in 2015. The size and changes in the mass of cones during the process of seed extraction, as well as the relations between these parameters, were analyzed. Changes in water content and drying rate of cones were modeled using suitable mathematical equations. The thermal balance of the whole process of seeds extraction was calculated, and the heat necessary to extract the seeds was determined. Cones were initially exposed to 2.45 GHz microwaves with a power of 800 W for either 5 or 15 seconds. Subsequently, cones were placed in a circulating air oven and seeds extracted under convective drying at a constant temperature of 50 ± 0.1 °C. We found that seeds from cones subjected to 15-seconds microwave radiation were dramatically damaged, while no significant difference were found in germination and quality of seeds between cones subjected to the 5-seconds microwave pre-treatment and control cones, both yielding first-class quality seeds (mean germination capacity > 90%). The results of this study could help developing microwave-dryer control algorithms to support the automated process of cone seed extraction in large-capacity extraction plants.
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Claims 3
Claim · model-written summary
Microwave irradiation for 15 seconds dramatically damaged seeds extracted from Scots pine cones.
- Taxon
- Pinus sylvestris
Pinus sylvestrist0 - Treatment
- 15-seconds microwave radiatione1
- Outcome
- seedse1
- Direction
- dramatically damagede1
- Comparator
- control conese2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Scots pine cones (Pinus sylvestris L.)”
e1“seeds from cones subjected to 15-seconds microwave radiation were dramatically damaged”
e2“no significant difference were found in germination and quality of seeds between cones subjected to the 5-seconds microwave pre-treatment and control cones”
Claim · model-written summary
Five-second microwave pre-treatment did not significantly change seed germination or quality relative to control cones.
- Taxon
- Pinus sylvestrisPinus sylvestrist0
- Treatment
- 5-seconds microwave pre-treatmente3
- Outcome
- germination and quality of seedse3
- Direction
- no significant differencee3
- Comparator
- control conese3
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Scots pine cones (Pinus sylvestris L.)”
e3“no significant difference were found in germination and quality of seeds between cones subjected to the 5-seconds microwave pre-treatment and control cones”
Claim · model-written summary
Seeds from both the 5-second pre-treatment and control cones had mean germination capacity above 90%.
- Taxon
- Pinus sylvestrisPinus sylvestrist0
- Outcome
- germination capacitye4
- Value
- > 90%e4
- Qualifier
- first-class quality seedse4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
t0“Scots pine cones (Pinus sylvestris L.)”
e4“both yielding first-class quality seeds (mean germination capacity > 90%)”
The same questions in other papers
radiation · yield · Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)Positive and negative results
1 in the opposite direction
- positive
processing · quality: general · Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- no effect
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.