Can Cold Plasma Be Used for Boosting Plant Growth and Plant Protection in Sustainable Plant Production?

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture with low inputs of chemicals and fertilizers has been recently attracting more attention from producers and researchers in the EU. The main reason for such attention is The European Green Deal—the EU’s latest growth strategy concerning environmental degradation and climate change. One of its main components is the Farm to Fork strategy, which especially features the reduction in pesticide and mineral fertilizer application and also supports the development of organic farming. At the same time, food demand is rising. These ambitious challenges require extensive research, development and innovation. Therefore, new non-chemical techniques for improving plant growth and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses must be explored for their potential in this field. One of the most promising is the use of non-thermal plasma for such purposes. As this physical factor is a complex mixture of ions, atoms, electrons, radicals and molecules, its effect on plants and pathogens is also complex. This review presents different aspects of the effect of non-thermal plasma on seed germination, development of seedlings, plants and pathogens. The literature was explored to provide evidence for the possible use of non-thermal plasma for boosting plant growth and plant protection.

Plasma processing: a sustainable technology in agri-food processing

“…Hence a sustainable technology with less energy consumption and reduced chemical fertilizer use are of interest to researchers and producers to meet the demands. 171 Cold plasma has the potential to be used as a green fertilizer in the future due to its increased efficiency and eco-friendly production. As the plasma treatment will lead to the production of reactive oxygen species and reactive nitrogen species in water, it acts as a fertilization liquid facilitating plant development.…”

Az Európai Zöld Megállapodás potenciális hatása az EU és Magyarország növénytermesztésére

“…Mivel ez a fizikai tényező ionok, atomok, elektronok, gyökök és molekulák összetett keveréke, a növényekre és kórokozókra gyakorolt hatása is összetett. Pańka et al (2022) a szakirodalom feltárása során bizonyítékokat talált a nem termikus plazma lehetséges felhasználására a növénynövekedés fokozására és a növényvédelemre.…”

Recent Advances and Potential Applications of Atmospheric Pressure Cold Plasma Technology for Sustainable Food Processing

“…Direct treatment of seeds and the use of PAW for irrigation are potential applications of ACP in agriculture. In 2022, a comprehensive review, Panka and collaborators reported about the use of cold plasma in sustainable seed production, and plant growth improvement [75]. While their study outlines some of the most relevant contributions in the field of cold plasma technology, it focuses heavily on the plant and seed aspects of the agricultural chain, and unfortunately does not provide major details on the latest developments of technologies in use for food processing applications, nor does it mention the use of plasma-activated liquids, a key application currently highly researched, in agriculture and decontamination.…”