Effect of Cold Plasma Processing on Botanicals and Their Essential Oils

Abstract

Increased agricultural food production and the subsequent preservation of yielded food are matters of grave importance to all humanity. In this work, we studied methods for increasing the production yield of plants that produce essential oils. Essential oil plant extracts have demonstrated antibacterial effects and contain antioxidants that are important for food product preservation and quality. Cold plasma processing is a novel technique for increasing the yield of botanicals that are known to be key producers of essential oils. Cold plasma-treated plants were compared to control nontreated plants and to commercially available essential oils. On the basis of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl antioxidant assay results, some commercial essential oils and those from homegrown (greenhouse) plants were found to be effective antioxidants. This preliminary research points to the potential natural replacement of synthetic commercial preservatives, such as butylated hydroxytoluene and butylated hydroxyanisole, that have been demonstrated to be potentially harmful to human health. Furthermore, other studies investigating plasma treatment on seeds suggest that plasma treatment enhances growth and may increase phenolic antioxidant effects.

Cold Plasma Treatment Strategies for the Control of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. basilici in Sweet Basil

“…1). The cold plasma jet reactor was operated using UHP helium feed gas in atmospheric air at a rate of 5.00 standard liters per minute (SLPM), and with an applied alternating current (AC) voltage of 13 kV pk-pk at 28.8 kHz, for a total effective average electrical power usage of 15 watts (Buonopane et al, 2016;Johnson et al, 2011). Treatments consisted of a control of FOB plugs not treated with cold plasma, and FOB plugs treated with cold plasma for periods of 5, 10, or 15 min.…”

“…Cold plasma, also known as the fourth state of matter, is a cold, gas-like mixture of charged particles (including ions and free electrons), neutral reactive particles (including reactive oxygen and nitrogen species), ionized molecules, free radicals, and ultraviolet photons (Abbasian et al, 2017;Basaran et al, 2008;Becker et al, 2010;Bourke et al, 2018;Nied zwied z et al, 2019;Zhu and Lopez, 2012). Plasma generation technology at atmospheric pressure is now being used in agricultural applications such as enhancing essential oil yields, enhancement of seed germination, seed decontamination, degradation of pesticides and mycotoxins, plant growth, and disease control (Abbasian et al, 2017;Adhikari et al, 2020;Bourke et al, 2018;Buonopane et al, 2016;Lee et al, 2016;Nied zwied z et al, 2019;Selcuk et al, 2008). This technology has been shown to offer both efficient and broad-spectrum control of various bacterial and fungal pathogens in laboratory environments on plants and seeds (Adhikari et al, 2020;Ambrico et al, 2017;Bai et al, 2011;Bourke et al, 2018;Nied zwied z et al, 2019;Sun et al, 2011).…”

Plasma processing: a sustainable technology in agri-food processing

“…EO obtained from plasma-treated sweet basil produced more antioxidant activity with higher eugenol content, while the treated seed growth aer a month was 40 mm higher than the control. 27 Similarly, an increase in the antimicrobial property of clove oil was achieved aer plasma jet processing. Due to this, the minimum concentration required for microbial inhibition (A. niger, Penicillium sp., and Rhizopus sp.)…”

“…Not only seeds but plants such as basil showed more growth in height, around 10 mm, than the control. 27 Apart from plasma treatment, PAW also helped in the growth of seeds, and Sivachandiran 42 reported about a 28% to 45% increase in the stem length of radish after PAW watering. For tomato and pepper plants, plasma and PAW combined treatment showed positive plant growth with healthy leaves.…”

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

“…The modulation of superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) enzyme activities was observed in wheat plants after low pressure DBD plasma exposure [43]. Likewise, changes in the antioxidant (proline, ascorbic, guaiacol peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, phenolic, and flavonoid) status were also observed in plants at the vegetative stage after cold atmospheric pressure plasma treatment [40,61,85,86]. The expression patterns of different growth-regulating genes in response to cold atmospheric pressure plasma treatment have been investigated-argon plasma downregulates the expression of the methylation-related genes in soybeans and epigenetically regulates the expression of the metabolism-related genes [40].…”