When seeds are treated with a high-voltage electric field (HVEF) to improve seed vigor, due to the large differences in the biological electromagnetic effects on different types of seeds, the methods of variance analysis and regression analysis based on data statistics are generally used to construct the optimal electric field dose prediction model; however, the generalization performance of the prediction model tends to be poor. To solve this problem, the electric intensity, frequency and treatment time were taken as the input variables for hybrid support vector regression (SVR) analysis to establish the prediction model of the seed comprehensive germination index. The whale optimization algorithm (WOA) was used to optimize the kernel parameters of the SVR. The optimized hybrid WOA–SVR model predicted the optimal comprehensive germination index of aged cotton (Gossypium spp.) seeds to be 329, the optimal HVEF dosage was 3.64 kV/cm × 99 s, and the frequency was 1.4 Hz. The aged cotton seeds were treated with the optimal HVEF and the germination test was carried out. Compared with the check (CK), the comprehensive germination index of seeds increased by 48%. The research results provided a new method and new idea for the optimal design of parameters for seed treatment with HVEF.
Application of WOA–SVR in Seed Vigor of High-Voltage Electric Field Treatment on Aged Cotton (Gossypium spp.) Seeds
