Germination enhancement of green bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L) by using non thermal argon plasma

Abstract

An attempt to enhance the germination of green bell pepper has been tried by using dry processing non thermal (cold) argon plasma treatment. As an emerging non thermal technology, cold plasma could be used to give a pretreatment to a thermal-sensitive material, such as pretreatment to seeds of bell pepper prior to be planted in soil to understand the effect of this dry process during the germination period. In this experiment, the used argon plasma was generated by flowing argon gas with the rate of 2 L/min through a positively charged of stainless pipe at a distance of 15 mm from aluminum plate electrode. With an applied voltage of 9.8 kV (peak-to-peak) electrical energy from a high voltage AC power supply, argon plasma irradiation was employed to the bell pepper seeds for a predetermined period of time as pretreatment to the seeds during pre-planting. It was found that the temperature of the plasma never exceeded 35°C during the plasma irradiation to assure that no thermal damage occurred to the seeds. It was also confirmed from this study that by giving non thermal plasma treatment for 30 minutes to the seeds may enhance the germination of the bell pepper plants up to 90% in stem length and almost 2.5 times in root length compared to the pepper without treatment.

Pepper Growing Modified by Plasma Activated Water and Growth Conditions

“…Most of the previous research investigated germination and seedlings characteristics of pepper [32]. According to provided research, nonthermal plasma improved stem length [33], shoot length, total fresh weight and leaf area, and biomass [28,30]. In the present study, higher canopy height, the number of buds, nodes, leaves, and canopy weight in plants with seeds treated with PAW were determined (Tables 2-13).…”

“…Most of the previous research investigated germination and seedlings characteristics of pepper [32]. According to provided research, nonthermal plasma improved stem length [33], shoot length, total fresh…”

“…Several authors reported the positive influence of nonthermal plasma [28][29][30][31][32][33] and plasma-activated water (PAW) [34] on the growth of pepper. However, despite studies carried out in the field of pre-sawing plasma treated seeds, reports about the effects of plasma-activated water on the morphology and phenology of resulting plants, yield, and quality of fruits are absent or very limited [35].…”

Effects of Nonthermal Plasma (NTP) on the Growth and Quality of Baby Leaf Lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. acephala Alef.) Cultivated in an Indoor Hydroponic Growing System

“…Moreover, the NTP effects were dependent on the exposure time, leading to reduced growth after 2 min NTP treatment. Similarly, longer roots were observed in soybean [38], green bell pepper [39], Arabidopsis [37], and tomato [11]. In the same way an increase in leaf area was observed in Arabidopsis thaliana [40], in tomatoes [9,41,42], and peppers [9].…”