Cold plasma treatment for cotton seed germination improvement

Abstract

Adverse environmental conditions at planting, such as cold temperature or water limitation, can lead to a reduced level of seed germination and plant establishment for cotton. Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP) treatment of cotton seeds prior to planting may help alleviate this problem. CAP is ionised gas that has a range of biological activities due to the formation of a mix of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), excited molecules, charged particles and UV photons. Our results show that a 27 minutes CAP treatment using air can significantly increase water absorption of the seed, and improve warm germination, metabolic chill test germination and chilling tolerance in cotton. We also observe that the beneficial effect of CAP treatment is long-lasting and stable as improved germination activity is still seen when treatment occurs 4 months before germination testing, suggesting that future large-scale industrial seed plasma treatments may still be effectively applied well (months) before the seed planting. We conclude that CAP treatment is a promising new tool for use in the cotton industry that has the potential to significantly improve plant establishment in a wider range of environmental conditions.

The Combination of Simultaneous Plasma Treatment with Mg Nanoparticles Deposition Technique for Better Mung Bean Seeds Germination

“…Many processes can occur during the interaction of air plasma with the seeds surface: The removal of surface contamination, the formation of an altered layer by the implantation of magnesium ions and active ions from air plasma near the surface, the adsorption of magnesium atoms on the surface, the formation of polar molecule groups on the surface which promote surface wettability, the changes in the surface topography on the nanoscale, etc. [8,34]. Under certain conditions, magnesium particles from the used electrodes are sputtered by ions existing in the air plasma.…”

“…This, in turn, determined a better water absorption into the seed. G. de Groot et al used the cold plasma treatment for cotton seed germination improvement [8]. They showed that the cold plasma treatment invoked the seeds surface hydrophilicity and improved water absorption.…”

“…Moreover, current consumers are interested in less chemically treated food products. Alternatively, genetic engineering, seeds sterilization with sodium chlorite, treatment with acids, antibiotics, hot water, or additional macro elements can be employed for better germination [1,8,9]. However, these processes are considered complex, expensive, radicals such as, H 2 O + , OH − , and OH* [21,22].…”

“…However, these processes are considered complex, expensive, radicals such as, H 2 O + , OH − , and OH* [21,22]. The reactive oxygen and nitrogen species have a huge impact on seeds activation in the plasma [8,23].…”

The water path in plasma-treatedLeucaenaseeds

“…In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the use of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) as an energy source in modifying the surface of living materials because of its many advantages, such as treatment of larger areas without damaging thermally sensitive structures. There is a growing body of literature that recognizes the efficiency of CAP in the breaking of physical seed dormancy (Alves Júnior et al, 2016; Da Silva et al, 2017; De Groot et al 2018; Los et al 2019; Yodpitaka et al 2019). It has been observed that functional groups containing hydrogen, oxygen and/or nitrogen atoms increase the adsorption of water molecules on the seed's surface.…”