Effect of RF plasma on Moringa seeds germination and growth

Abstract

The paper presents the effect of cold plasma (RF-Ar low-pressure plasma) on Moringa oleifera seeds. Five groups of seeds characterized by the different exposure times (1, 5, 10 and 15 mints) as well as untreated seeds. The highest germination parameters were obtained for seeds treated for the exposure times of 1 min. Analysis of the data showed a statistically significant impact of RF plasma on the seeds germination parameters. The surface properties of the plasma-treated samples are examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Improvements appeared in the germination percentage and germination potential of the treated seeds and increase in the length of the plant for seeds exposed to the RF plasma at treatment time 1 and 5 min. from 4,32% to 26.40% for roots and from 15.91 % to 18.62 % for shoots, respectively. Also, it is observed that the weight of seeds increased for the samples treated at 1 and 5 min from 4.89% to 6.22%, and the weight of the shoots is increased from 6.19% to 6.93%.

Cold plasma treatment of seeds: deciphering the role of contact surfaces through multiple exposures, randomizing and stirring

“…Low-pressure RF plasma processes are successfully utilized to improve the germination of various seeds like Moringa oleifera seeds. Their exposure to an RF plasma of argon during 1 minute at 100 W and 2 Torr allows the increase in their germination by 20% and the subsequent shoot growth by more than 30 % [12]. Complementarily with these results, it has been shown that plasma can favor the diffusion of mineral elements in the coat of Quinoa seeds exposed to a capacitive RF reactor at 0.1 mbar, resulting in higher germination rate [13].…”

Entering the plasma agriculture field: An attempt to standardize protocols for plasma treatment of seeds

“…Changes in germination or plant growth parameters have been observed with all the gases listed above. For example, helium was used in References [30,35,36,68,78,82,84,94], argon in References [22,23,33,38,60,62,109,111,117,128,133], air in References [11,36,41,48,51,58,61,79,80,90], and nitrogen in References [9,30,61,69,85,95,99] Various gases [24,118] or mixtures of gases are used in References [50,77,86,92] while nitrogen or oxygen [88,120] is used as a carrier gas in References [13,64]. Evidently, the reactive species composition differs for different ratios of oxygen and nitrogen, as shown by Tomekova et al …”

“…[143] Plant exposure to too high an intensity negatively affects the growth results. [144] Studies using Morgina, [117] black gram, [41] or wheat [39,95] seeds use dark conditions and this again may be due to the seed type. Almost all other studies use short or long day cycles, which are less stressful for the plant than continuous light, even though the results would be obtained sooner.…”

“…Bioassays can be performed to gauge disease or stress resistance. [14] It is also possible to analyze the seed surface using different types of microscopy like scanning electron microscopy, [9,20,22,23,25,28,36,39,41,48,51,52,55,57,60,61,68,69,75,117,118] and atomic force microscopy to observe the topology; energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, [28,48,52] X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and [28,52,57] micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for chemical element distribution, [40] and attenuated total reflectance FTIR spectroscopy [9,52,61] to analyze the seed surface chemistry. [52] On a microscopic (molecular) level, the concentration of antioxidant enzymes, or protein expression in general, can be measured using extraction methods and spectrophotometry or mass spectrometry, gene expression using quantitative polymerase chain reaction, or on a larger scale, microarrays or RNA sequencing and eventually metabolites using mass spectrometry.…”

Impact of non-thermal plasma treatment on the seed germination and seedling development of carrot (Daucus carota sativus L.)

“…However, no significant variations in the mass loss were found across plasma exposure times of 2 and 3 min. The etching of the seed surface by plasma treatment may be responsible for the reduction in mass of the treated carrot in this case [28,56].…”