Effects of nonthermal plasma on morphology, genetics and physiology of seeds : a review

Starič, Pia (author), Vogel-Mikuš, Katarina (author), Mozetič, Miran (author), Junkar, Ita (author)

Nonthermal plasma (NTP), or cold plasma, has shown many advantages in the agriculture sector as it enables removal of pesticides and contaminants from the seed surface, increases shelf life of crops, improves germination and resistance to abiotic stress. Recent studies show that plasma treatment indeed offers unique and environmentally friendly processing of different seeds, such as wheat, beans, corn, soybeans, barley, peanuts, rice and Arabidopsis thaliana, which could reduce the use of agricultural chemicals and has a high potential in ecological farming. This review covers the main concepts and underlying principles of plasma treatment techniques and their interaction with seeds. Different plasma generation methods and setups are presented and the influence of plasma treatment on DNA damage, gene expression, enzymatic activity, morphological and chemical changes, germination and resistance to stress, is explained. Important plasma treatment parameters and interactions of plasma species with the seed surface are presented and critically discussed in correlation with recent advances in this field. Although plasma agriculture is a relatively new field of research, and the complex mechanisms of interactions are not fully understood, it holds great promise for the future. This overview aims to present the advantages and limitations of different nonthermal plasma setups and discuss their possible future applications.

• Language: English
• Keywords: cold plasma, seeds, seed priming, plants, germination, yield, gene expression, (de)methylation, growth, ROS, phytohormones, MDA, antioxidant enzymes
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: 18 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 9, iss. 12, art. 1736
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-134821
• UDC: 533
• ISSN on article: 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants9121736
• COBISS.SI-ID: 41748739
• Publication date in RUL: 03.02.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Plants
• Shortened title: Plants
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2223-7747
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523345433

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 09.12.2020