Microwave treatment of agricultural soil samples

Samples of agricultural soil, sown with Eruca sativa Mill. or Portulaca oleracea L., underwent to different microwave (MW) treatments in reverberating chamber (Incident Power = 600 W), varying in the exposure time. Brief treatment with MWs caused a decrease of P. oleracea seed germination up to 30-50 %, relative to controls, whilst seeds of E. sativa, underwent to the same MW treatments (Incident Power 100 W, T1 = 1 min, T2= 30 sec and T3 = 2 min), did not influence seed germination. However, the T2 MW treatment strongly inhibited seed germination. The MW exposition clearly influences germination of the assayed seeds, consequently this methodology might be particularly effective in weed and pest control of agricultural soils.