Argon Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet Enhancing Seed Germination of Fenugreek (Trigonella Foenum-Graecum)

Abstract

Atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet gained a great interest overall the world due to its wide band of application in medicine, industry and agriculture. Therefore, in this work we investigated the impact of cold atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet on the germination of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.). The current-voltage sinusoidal waveforms show that two current pulses per each half a cycle of applied voltage was used in this experiment. The generated plasm jet emission spectrum show the presence of O and OH radicals. The gas temperature of the plasma jet was found to be 310 k at 2mm below the jet nozzle. The plasma jet system is a two-electrode system used with two exposure times; 1-min and 15-min, with and without accelerated grounded electrode (AGE) to investigate the effect of cold plasma on seeds germination. The results showed that plasma jet had a significant effect on seed germination at both exposure times. The effect of the three parameters; O-radicals, enhancement of the electric field and streamers, might be the cause of seed germination improvement by the plasma jet. The findings of this study suggested that cold plasma could stimulate the germination, taking in consideration that cold plasma is an economic and pollution-free method in plant productivity improvement.