Treatment of sunflower seeds by cold atmospheric plasma enhances their tolerance to water stress during germination and early seedling development

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that cold atmospheric plasma treatment enhances sunflower seed germination and seedling growth under water stress, offering a promising method to improve crop emergence in challenging conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of cold atmospheric plasma treatment to improve sunflower seed resilience to water stress during germination and early growth stages.

Findings

CAP treatment increased germination rates under water stress

Seedling development was stimulated by plasma treatment under stress

Effective plasma treatment depends on precise gap control

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of ambient air plasma treatment on both sunflower seed germination and early steps of seedling development under water stress. Dry seeds were exposed to a cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) generated in a dielectric barrier device where excited molecular nitrogen and ozone were detected by optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry respectively. Interestingly, we explain the crucial role of gap's accuracy when treating seeds with CAP, especially to improve interaction between seeds and plasma and therefore ensure an efficient treatment. CAP significantly improved the germination rates of seeds of dormant and non-dormant sunflower genotypes under water stress, demonstrating its efficiency in alleviating seed dormancy and in improving germination under suboptimal conditions. Furthermore, greenhouse experiments demonstrated that plasma treatment also stimulated seedling development under water stress conditions. These findings highlight the potential of CAP treatment as an effective approach to promote the whole process of emergence of crop species.