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Review
. 2020 Jul 15:11:988.
doi: 10.3389/fpls.2020.00988. eCollection 2020.

Emerging Plasma Technology That Alleviates Crop Stress During the Early Growth Stages of Plants: A Review

Jong-Seok Song  1 , Seong Bong Kim  1 , Seungmin Ryu  1 , Jaesung Oh  1 , Do-Soon Kim  2
Affiliations
Review

Emerging Plasma Technology That Alleviates Crop Stress During the Early Growth Stages of Plants: A Review

Jong-Seok Song et al. Front Plant Sci. .

Abstract

Crops during their early growth stages are vulnerable to a wide range of environmental stressors; thus, earlier seed invigoration and seedling establishment are essential in crop production. As an alternative to synthetic chemical treatments, plasma technology could be one of the emerging technologies to enhance seed germination and seedling vigor by managing environmental stressors. Recent studies have shown its beneficial effects in various stress conditions, suggesting that plasma treatment can be used for early crop stress management. This paper reviewed the effects of different types of plasma treatments on plant responses in terms of the seed surface environment (seed scarification and pathogen inactivation) and physiological processes (an enhanced antioxidant system and activated defense response) during the early growth stages of plants. As a result, plasma treatment can enhance seed invigoration and seedling establishment by alleviating the adverse effects of environmental stressors such as drought, salinity, and pathogen infection. More information on plasma applications and their mechanisms against a broad range of stressors is required to establish a better plasma technology for early crop stress management.

Keywords: antioxidant system; atmospheric pressure plasma; microorganism inactivation; seed germination; seedling growth; stress.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A comparison of plasma technology and conventional treatments with three factors affecting seed invigoration and seedling establishment: 1) seed scarification, 2) pathogen inactivation, and 3) enhanced cellular antioxidant systems. Seed scarification conventionally is done by acid treatment, heating, freeze-thawing, and mechanical scarifier. Plasma technology, as a particle bombardment or an oxidizing agent or both, can also be used for seed scarification at presowing. Additionally, plasma treatment, like other possible agents, can be applied at the early growth stage. Traditionally, synthetic chemicals have been commonly used for pathogen inactivation and antioxidant system activation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Maximum seed invigoration (% of control) as a function of the power (W) and exposure time (min) of the plasma treatments for a wide range of crops, which were described in the literature presented in Table 1.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Maximum infection control (% of control) as a function of the power (W) and exposure time (min) of the plasma treatments for a few crops, which were described in the literature presented in Table 2.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Enhanced enzyme activity (% of control) as a function of the power (W) and exposure time (min) of the plasma treatments in seeds (or seedlings), which were described in the literature presented in Table 3.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Crop response as a function of power (W) and exposure time (min) of the plasma treatment. The optimal plasma exposure can enhance seed germination and seedling growth before stress events.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Enhanced stress tolerance (% of control) as a function of the power (W) and exposure time (min) of the plasma treatments on seeds (or seedlings), which were described in the literature presented in Table 4.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The proposed mechanisms of the enhanced stress tolerance to environmental stressors in plasma-treated seeds (or seedlings). The plasma treatment (e.g., ROS, RNS, and UV) can enhance crop tolerance before a stress event by modulating the seed surface environment (e.g., hydrophilicity and pathogen inactivation) and physiological processes (e.g., enhanced antioxidant system and activated defense response) in the seed (or seedling).
Figure 8
Figure 8
The most important parameters for plasma applications to enhance seed scarification, pathogen inactivation, cellular antioxidant systems, and stress tolerance in seeds or plants.
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