Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Treatment of Pea Seeds with Plasma Activated Water to Enhance Germination, Plant Growth, and Plant Composition

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study has been carried to investigate the interaction and effect of plasma activated water (PAW) on pea seeds. PAW is produced with the interaction of air plasma with water that forms reactive oxygen–nitrogen species in it. Our results with surface morphological study shows that PAW treatment removes the wax from the surface of peas and modifies their hydrophobic surface to hydrophilic. Wettability study shows decrease in water contact angle with seed surface after PAW treatment. Also, PAW treatment improves germination rate, viability index and mean germination time compared to control. Further, the study reveals that the grown plants have higher roots and shoots length, fresh and dry weight, increased chlorophyll ‘a’ and higher sugar and protein concentration compared to control. Although electrolytic and phenolic leakage from pea leaves did not show any significant difference in PAW and control-treated seeds, results obtained from antioxidant analysis clearly show an increased antioxidant enzymatic (SOD (EC no. 1.15.1.1), CAT (EC no. 1.11.1.6), APX (EC no. 1.11.1.11), and POD (EC no. 1.11.1)) activity mainly in the roots in seedlings grown from seeds treated with PAW. However, no significant difference in H2O2 concentration in the pea plant was observed. Hence, our study indicates potential role of seed pre-treatment with PAW to improve germination and plant growth.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  1. Stewart W, Roberts T (2012) Food security and the role of fertilizer in supporting it. Procedia Eng 46:76–82

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Amusa T (2011) Effects of three pre-treatment techniques on dormancy and germination of seeds of Afzelia africana (Sm. Ex pers). Journal of Horticulture and forestry 3 (4):96–103

  3. Ahemad M, Khan MS (2012) Effects of pesticides on plant growth promoting traits of Mesorhizobium strain MRC4. J Saudi Soc Agric Sci 11(1):63–71

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Martin RE, Miller RL, Cushwa CT (1975) Germination response of legume seeds subjected to moist and dry heat. Ecology 56(6):1441–1445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kang M-H, Veerana M, Eom S, Uhm H-S, Ryu S, Park G (2020) Plasma mediated disinfection of rice seeds in water and air. J Phys D: Appl Phys. 53(21):214001

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Adesemoye A, Torbert H, Kloepper J (2009) Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria allow reduced application rates of chemical fertilizers. Microb Ecol 58(4):921–929

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Abdollahi M, Ranjbar A, Shadnia S, Nikfar S, Rezaiee A (2004) Pesticides and oxidative stress: a review. Med Sci Monitor. 10 (6):RA141-RA147

  8. Sajib SA, Billah M, Mahmud S, Miah M, Hossain F, Omar FB, Roy NC, Hoque KMF, Talukder MR, Kabir AH (2020) Plasma activated water: the next generation eco-friendly stimulant for enhancing plant seed germination, vigor and increased enzyme activity, a study on black gram (Vigna mungo L.). Plasma Chem Plasma Process 40(1):119–143

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sivachandiran L, Khacef A (2017) Enhanced seed germination and plant growth by atmospheric pressure cold air plasma: combined effect of seed and water treatment. RSC Adv 7(4):1822–1832

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rathore V, Nema SK (2021) Optimization of process parameters to generate plasma activated water and study of physicochemical properties of plasma activated solutions at optimum condition. J Appl Phys. 129(8):084901

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Rathore V, Patel D, Butani S, Nema SK (2021) Investigation of physicochemical properties of plasma activated water and its bactericidal efficacy. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 41(3):1–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Rathore V, Patel D, Shah N, Butani S, Pansuriya H, Nema SK (2021) Inactivation of Candida albicans and lemon (Citrus limon) spoilage fungi using plasma activated water. Plasma Chem Plasma Process:1–18

  13. Hongzhuan Z, Ying T, Xia S, Jinsong G, Zhenhua Z, Beiyu J, Yanyan C, Lulu L, Jue Z, Bing Y (2020) Preparation of the inactivated Newcastle disease vaccine by plasma activated water and evaluation of its protection efficacy. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 104(1):107–117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Ten Bosch L, Köhler R, Ortmann R, Wieneke S, Viöl W (2017) Insecticidal effects of plasma treated water. Int J Environ Res Public Health 14(12):1460

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Subramanian PG, Jain A, Shivapuji AM, Sundaresan NR, Dasappa S, Rao L (2020) Plasma-activated water from a dielectric barrier discharge plasma source for the selective treatment of cancer cells. Plasma Processes Polym 17(8):1900260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Liao X, Su Y, Liu D, Chen S, Hu Y, Ye X, Wang J, Ding T (2018) Application of atmospheric cold plasma-activated water (PAW) ice for preservation of shrimps (Metapenaeus ensis). Food Control 94:307–314

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Islam S, Omar FB, Sajib SA, Roy NC, Reza A, Hasan M, Talukder MR, Kabir AH (2019) Effects of LPDBD plasma and plasma activated water on germination and growth in rapeseed (Brassica napus). Gesunde Pflanzen 71(3):175–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Judée F, Simon S, Bailly C, Dufour T (2018) Plasma-activation of tap water using DBD for agronomy applications: Identification and quantification of long lifetime chemical species and production/consumption mechanisms. Water Res 133:47–59

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Gao X, Zhang A, Héroux P, Sand W, Sun Z, Zhan J, Wang C, Hao S, Li Z, Li Z (2019) Effect of dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma on pea seed growth. J Agric Food Chem 67(39):10813–10822

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Kostoláni D, Ndiffo Yemeli GB, Švubová R, Kyzek S, Machala Z (2021) Physiological responses of young pea and barley seedlings to plasma-activated water. Plants 10(8):1750

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Porto CL, Ziuzina D, Los A, Boehm D, Palumbo F, Favia P, Tiwari B, Bourke P, Cullen PJ (2018) Plasma activated water and airborne ultrasound treatments for enhanced germination and growth of soybean. Innov Food Sci Emerg Technol 49:13–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Fan L, Liu X, Ma Y, Xiang Q (2020) Effects of plasma-activated water treatment on seed germination and growth of mung bean sprouts. Journal of Taibah University for Science 14(1):823–830

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kučerová K, Henselová M, Slováková Ľ, Bačovčinová M, Hensel K (2021) Effect of plasma activated water, hydrogen peroxide, and nitrates on lettuce growth and its physiological parameters. Appl Sci. 11(5):1985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Stoleru V, Burlica R, Mihalache G, Dirlau D, Padureanu S, Teliban G-C, Astanei D, Cojocaru A, Beniuga O, Patras A (2020) Plant growth promotion effect of plasma activated water on Lactuca sativa L. cultivated in two different volumes of substrate. Scient Reports. 10(1):1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Kučerová K, Henselová M, Slováková Ľ, Hensel K (2019) Effects of plasma activated water on wheat: germination, growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments, soluble protein content, and antioxidant enzymes activity. Plasma Processes Polym 16(3):1800131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. de Almeida Costa GE, da Silva Q-M, Reis SMPM, de Oliveira AC (2006) Chemical composition, dietary fibre and resistant starch contents of raw and cooked pea, common bean, chickpea and lentil legumes. Food Chem 94(3):327–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Kader M (2005) A comparison of seed germination calculation formulae and the associated interpretation of resulting data. J Proc Royal Soc New South Wales 138:65–75

    Google Scholar 

  28. Hara Y (1999) Calculation of population parameters using Richards function and application of indices of growth and seed vigor to rice plants. Plant Production Sci 2(2):129–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lichtenthaler HK, Buschmann C (2001) Chlorophylls and carotenoids: Measurement and characterization by UV‐VIS spectroscopy. Current protocols food analytical chem. 1 (1):F4. 3.1-F4. 3.8

  30. Pons A, Roca P, Aguiló C, Garcia F, Alemany M, Palou A (1981) A method for the simultaneous determinations of total carbohydrate and glycerol in biological samples with the anthrone reagent. J Biochem Biophys Methods 4(3–4):227–231

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Lowry OH, Rosebrough NJ, Farr AL, Randall RJ (1951) Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. J Biol Chem 193:265–275

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Alexieva V, Sergiev I, Mapelli S, Karanov E (2001) The effect of drought and ultraviolet radiation on growth and stress markers in pea and wheat. Plant, Cell Environ 24(12):1337–1344

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Jain R, Srivastava S, Chandra A (2012) Electrolyte and phenolic leakage contents and their relation with photosynthetic pigments, catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities at low temperature stress in sugarcane. Indian J Plant Physiol 17(3 & 4):246–253

    Google Scholar 

  34. Almeselmani M, Deshmukh P, Sairam RK, Kushwaha S, Singh T (2006) Protective role of antioxidant enzymes under high temperature stress. Plant Sci 171(3):382–388

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Dipanjali S, Kataki M (2014) Comparative enzyme assay of Carissa carandas fruit at various stages of growth with stored ripe stage. World J Pharmaceutical Res 3(6):475–485

    Google Scholar 

  36. Nakano Y, Asada K (1981) Hydrogen peroxide is scavenged by ascorbate-specific peroxidase in spinach chloroplasts. Plant Cell Physiol 22(5):867–880

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Shemansky D, Broadfoot A (1971) Excitation of N2 and N+ 2 systems by electrons—I. absolute transition probabilities. J Quantitative Spectroscopy Radiative Transfer 11(10):1385–1400

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Causin HF (1996) The central role of amino acids on nitrogen utilization and plant growth. J Plant Physiol 149(3–4):358–362

    Google Scholar 

  39. Lam H-M, Coschigano K, Oliveira I, Melo-Oliveira R, Coruzzi G (1996) The molecular-genetics of nitrogen assimilation into amino acids in higher plants. Annu Rev Plant Biol 47(1):569–593

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Watanabe T, Kobayashi M, Hongu A, Nakazato M, Hiyama T, Murata N (1985) Evidence that a chlorophyll a’dimer constitutes the photochemical reaction centre 1 (P700) in photosynthetic apparatus. FEBS Lett 191(2):252–256

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Björn LO, Papageorgiou GC, Blankenship RE (2009) A viewpoint: why chlorophyll a? Photosynth Res 99(2):85–98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Tognetti VB, Bielach A, Hrtyan M (2017) Redox regulation at the site of primary growth: auxin, cytokinin and ROS crosstalk. Plant, Cell Environ 40(11):2586–2605

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Cavalcanti FR, Oliveira JTA, Martins-Miranda AS, Viégas RA, Silveira JAG (2004) Superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase activities do not confer protection against oxidative damage in salt-stressed cowpea leaves. New Phytol 163(3):563–571

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Beyer WF Jr, Fridovich I (1987) Assaying for superoxide dismutase activity: some large consequences of minor changes in conditions. Anal Biochem 161(2):559–566

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Khan A, Numan M, Khan AL, Lee I-J, Imran M, Asaf S, Al-Harrasi A (2020) Melatonin: awakening the defense mechanisms during plant oxidative stress. Plants 9(4):407

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Rahman MM, Sajib SA, Rahi MS, Tahura S, Roy NC, Parvez S, Reza MA, Talukder MR, Kabir AH (2018) Mechanisms and signaling associated with LPDBD plasma mediated growth improvement in wheat. Sci Rep 8(1):1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Goud PB, Kachole MS (2012) Antioxidant enzyme changes in neem, pigeonpea and mulberry leaves in two stages of maturity. Plant Signal Behav 7(10):1258–1262

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Department of Atomic Energy (Government of India) graduate fellowship scheme (DGFS). The authors sincerely thank Mr. Chirayu Patil, Mr. Vivek Pachchigar, Mr. Adam Sanghariyat, and Dr. Vishal N. Jain for providing constant support and useful suggestions during this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382428, India

    Vikas Rathore & Sudhir Kumar Nema

  2. Institute of Advanced Research (IAR), Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 382426, India

    Budhi Sagar Tiwari

  3. Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400094, India

    Vikas Rathore & Sudhir Kumar Nema

Authors
  1. Vikas Rathore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Budhi Sagar Tiwari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sudhir Kumar Nema
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by VR. The first draft of the manuscript was written by VR and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Vikas Rathore or Budhi Sagar Tiwari.

Ethics declarations

Confict of interest

The authors declare that they have no confict of interest..

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (PDF 1568 kb)

Supplementary file2 (MP4 5646 kb)

Supplementary file3 (MP4 934 kb)

Supplementary file4 (MP4 705 kb)

Supplementary file5 (MP4 440 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rathore, V., Tiwari, B.S. & Nema, S.K. Treatment of Pea Seeds with Plasma Activated Water to Enhance Germination, Plant Growth, and Plant Composition. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 42, 109–129 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-021-10211-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-021-10211-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation