Growth of Plasma-Treated Corn Seeds under Realistic Conditions

Abstract

In this study, the effect of the plasma treatment on corn seeds is investigated. Corn seeds were treated uniformly without burning or blackening by three kinds of plasma apparatus: RF plasma in vacuum, microwave-driven atmospheric-pressure plasma, DBD atmospheric-pressure plasma, and two other treatments: vacuum exposure only, and using plasma-activated water in the seed coating process, to investigate growth rate changes under realistic conditions. Each treatment was performed on a total of 1512 corn seeds. Seeds from each experimental condition were treated with the recommended rate of Poncho/VOTiVO with Acceleron, a commercial biological seed treatment that helps to protect the seeds from fungus, insects, and nematodes after planting. The 1512 seeds were divided evenly into three replications with 84 seeds planted for each replication at six unique locations across central Illinois. The results for germination, growth, and product yield over the 2017 growing season is presented. Overall no statistically significant difference in the yield of corn harvested was found between the control and any of the five treatments. This is likely due to the already near-100% germination rate of the corn hybrid used in the study and the use of the Poncho/VOTiVO protective coating on every sample.

Effect of H2O-Based Low-Pressure Plasma (LPP) Treatment on the Germination of Bambara Groundnut Seeds

“…The primary aim of the current work was to investigate the influence of H 2 O-based LPP treatment on the Bambara groundnut germination, as vacuum alone has been shown to have mixed results [26][27][28]. Furthermore, this study aimed to suggest the mechanism responsible, applying various assays such as the measurement of water uptake and electrical conductivity of the liquid used to submerge Bambara groundnut seeds.…”

The Effects of Plasma on Plant Growth, Development, and Sustainability

“…Plasma treatment promotes seed germination and subsequent seedling growth, increasing the length and biomass of seedlings (Table 1). As mentioned earlier, enhanced seedling growth without changes to the germination efficiency has been also observed after plasma treatment [15,19,41,44,56,59,64]. Plasma treatment at the seedling stage has also reported, which promoted seedling growth [10,48,55,61,63].…”

“…In the past 20 years, various plasma sources (dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) jet plasma, microwave discharge, radio-frequency (RF) discharge, gliding discharge) have been developed and used for treating vegetables (tomato, radish, coriander, green peas, and sunflower) and crops (rapeseed, cotton, maize, oat, wheat, mustard, soybean, legumes, and honey clover) (Table 1). Plasma treatment (direct or indirect) has enhanced seed germination in most studies, although no changes in the germination percentage were observed in several studies [15,19,41,44,56,59,64]. Plasma promoted the germination speed, overall germination percentage, or both.…”

“…Meng et al [35] reported germination increases of 24, 28, and 35.5% for DBD plasma-treated wheat seeds with air, nitrogen, and argon feeding gases, respectively. Most studies have been under laboratory conditions, but field-based investigations have also been reported [14,44]. Filatova et al [14] observed a 10-20% increase in the field germination capacity of soy, honey clover, and catgut seeds with microwave plasma treatment, whereas Ahn et al [44] did not observe any changes in the germination percentage.…”

Plasma Treatment and Seed Quality Advancement: A Review

“…It integrates about 99 per cent of the visible universe. There are significant charge carriers in plasma that make it electrically conductive and strongly influenced by electric and magnetic fields (Ahn et al 2019, Ding et al 2011. It forms structures viz., beams, filaments and double layers under the influence of a magnetic field, (Nalwa et al 2018).…”