Combined plasma treatment effects on growth and yield: second-generation potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) seeds

Abstract

Applications of plasmas in agriculture are fascinating researchers because of its potentiality. Plasmas are applied either for seed treatment or as foliar application of plasma-activated water (PAW) for studying agricultural yield. No work has been done so far to study the effects on growth parameters, enzymatic activities, nutritional parameters, and yield of potato (Solanum tubersum L.) grown from the second-generation seeds (G2) (seeds collected from the potato plants where foliar spray of PAW was applied). Two-fold plasma treatments were applied in this experiment: (a) potato seeds were treated in water with plasma and (b) foliar spray of PAW was applied to potato plants. Effects of plasma treatments were characterized by enzymatic activities, sugar and protein concentrations, potato plant growth and yield characters. The findings show that the plant length, stem diameter, fresh weight, and the concentrations of total chlorophyll and carotene are increased in the plants where G2 treated seeds along with foliar spray of PAWs were provided. Further, the concentrations of total soluble sugar, protein and minerals were increased. Besides, the yield of potato was enhanced by \(23.95\%\), and \(23.21\%\), respectively, in the plants where combined plasma treatments were used compared to controls of first-generation (G1) plasma treated and untreated seeds along with PAW foliar spray.