Most of the legume seeds are subjected to imbibitional moistening chilling stress after sowing to cool and wet soil. Its practical effect usually consists in the lower than planned plant density after emergence. Because mostly overdried legume seeds are subjected to that stress, some methods of increasing presowing seed moisture content were developed. Hydroconditioning of seeds in saturated water vapour, osmo- and matriconditioning belong to them. Theoretical consideration on seed conditioning and its practical effect under field conditions are discussed.
Usability of green crop mechanical treatment (conditioning) just after mowing was discussed in the paper. The use of flail conditioners and roller crimpers accelerate swath drying rate in the field, reducing the number of necessary swath teddings and making the total harvest technology less energy consuming. Typical construction of these machines was described and the trends of their development were pointed out.