Plasma Farming: Non-Thermal Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Technology for Improving the Growth of Soybean Sprouts and Chickens

Abstract

Non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is an innovative and emerging field combining plasma physics, life science and clinical medicine for a wide-range of biological applications. Plasma techniques are applied in treating surfaces, materials or devices to realize specific qualities for subsequent special medical applications, plant seeds to improve the production and quality of crops, and living cells or tissues to realize therapeutic effects. Several studies that are summarized within this review show that non-thermal DBD plasma technique has potential biological applications in soybean sprout growth, chicken embryonic development and postnatal growth rate, and even male chicken reproductive capacity. The current developments in the non-thermal DBD plasma technique may be beneficial to improve plant and poultry productivity.

Direct Treatment of Liquids Using Low-Current Arc in Ambient Air for Biomedical Applications

“…Recently, treatment of liquids using various atmospheric pressure plasmas has attracted much attention owing to its wide range of possible applications, such as synthesis of nanocarbons and nanoparticles, sterilization of microorganisms, growth enhancement of plants, plasma farming, cancer therapy, and water purification [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Typically, low-temperature nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma jets (NEAPPJs) or dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are used for activation of liquids by plasma [5,[12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…Recently, treatment of liquids using various atmospheric pressure plasmas has attracted much attention owing to its wide range of possible applications, such as synthesis of nanocarbons and nanoparticles, sterilization of microorganisms, growth enhancement of plants, plasma farming, cancer therapy, and water purification [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Typically, low-temperature nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma jets (NEAPPJs) or dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are used for activation of liquids by plasma [5,[12][13][14][15][16]. However, in both the case of atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and DBD, the production rate of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), which play key roles in bactericidal effect and plant growth promotion, is low and irradiation of the liquid takes a long time (from several minutes to hours) due to the low density of the plasma [5,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

“…Typically, low-temperature nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma jets (NEAPPJs) or dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) are used for activation of liquids by plasma [5,[12][13][14][15][16]. However, in both the case of atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) and DBD, the production rate of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), which play key roles in bactericidal effect and plant growth promotion, is low and irradiation of the liquid takes a long time (from several minutes to hours) due to the low density of the plasma [5,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Moreover, in most cases, plasma is generated using pure gases (e.g., argon, helium, or oxygen) at a high voltage, so a substantial amount of electrical energy is required to sustain the discharge and only a limited volume (typically several milliliters) of medium can be treated at one time [4,7,17,[19][20][21][22].…”

Piezoelectric Direct Discharge: Devices and Applications

“…A large number of applications of piezobrush ® PZ2 and piezobrush ® PZ3 for surface modification of different polymeric substrates is known. The considerably new disciplines of APP application are the plasma agriculture [133] and the plasma farming [134]. This is why in the next section the results for unconventional substrates-fruits-are shown.…”

Scalable Treatment of Flowing Organic Liquids Using Ambient-Air Glow Discharge for Agricultural Applications

“…Additionally, in the case of organic liquids or other solutions, liquid components could be decomposed through an interaction with plasma or chemical reactions triggered by the plasma treatment [17]. The combination of RONS and other components present in the liquid treated with plasma could have a suppressing effect, such as bactericidal or insecticidal effect and the selective killing of cancer cells, or a promotion effect, such as enhancement of plant-seed germination, plant growth, and even chicken-growth promotion [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”