May 16 2016
Research reported in the Applied Physics Express demonstrates that ‘non-thermal air plasma irradiation’ dramatically improves the harvest of the salad crop Arabidopsis thaliana.
Researchers in Japan have developed a technique to improve crop yields by treating seeds prior to planting with a safe dose of plasma radiation. The results indicate crop yields of Arabidopsis thaliana improve significantly, and the plants take a shorter time to reach maturity
The ability to enhance the growth of crops and maximize their yields could transform food supplies for the future. Exposing seeds to ionizing radiation allows scientists to control the growth and development of plants, from the early stages through to harvest. There are different types of irradiation, including plasma irradiation – a technique that does not damage the plants but has been shown to increase seed germination rates and overall plant length.
Now, Kazunori Koga and co-workers at Kyushu University have demonstrated that the use of ‘non-thermal air plasma irradiation’ can dramatically improve the harvest of the salad crop Arabidopsis thaliana1.
The team built a scalable device to generate the non-thermal plasma, and placed 20 A.thaliana seeds under the device before subjecting them to a three minute dose of plasma radiation. The seeds were then planted and their growth and proliferation monitored and compared with a control group. The researchers found that the germination rate for the plasma seeds was almost a full day faster than the controls. The plasma plants reached maturity at 17.5 days, compared with 22 days for the control group. The seeds produced by the plasma group were larger, with a 39% overall increase in seed number.
The results represent an 11% shorter harvest period and a 56% increase in total seed weight; a significant improvement in crop yield. Koga’s team are hopeful their non-thermal plasma method represents an environmentally-friendly way of maximizing A.thaliana yields and potentially those of other crop types.
Reference
Kazunori Koga1, Sarinont Thapanut1, Takaaki Amano1, Hyunwoong Seo1,
Naho Itagaki1, Nobuya Hayashi2, and Masaharu Shiratani1. Simple method of improving harvest by nonthermal air plasma irradiation of seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Applied Physics Express 9 016201 (2016)
- Faculty of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Science, Kyushu University, Kasuga 816-8580, Japan
This research is featured in the May 2016 issue of the JSAP Bulletin.
JSAP Bulletin website: http://jsap-bulletin.jsap.or.jp/en/