The effect of pH of the growing medium on germination and initial development phases of seedlings of four plant species: Festuca pratensis Huds. and Dactylis glomerata L., Trifolium repens L. and Medicago sativa ssp. falcata × ssp. sativa L. in hydroponic cultures was investigated. Hoagland growing media with pH: 6.5; 6.0; 5.5; 5.0; 4.5; 4.0 were used. In this study we determined the germination energy and capacity of the seeds, the length of green part and fresh and dry matter of seedlings after one month of growth. The obtained results were analysed statistically, which involved making the one-direction analysis of variance and building regression equations. A negative effect of the growing medium acidity on studied features of seedlings was observed, whereas in the case of germination it referred mainly to pH = 4.0. Reduction in pH had the greatest effect on seedling dry matter, particularly in the case of Trifolium repens and Medicago sativa.

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