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Air Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Induced Germination and Growth Enhancement of Wheat Seed

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Abstract

Air atmospheric dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBD) was attempted to pretreat wheat seed to improve its germination and growth in this study. The effects of the DBD plasma treatment on the wheat seed germination, seedling growth, osmotic-adjustment products, lipid peroxidation level, and antioxidant enzymes activity were investigated. The experimental results showed that the DBD plasma treatment with an appropriate time scale could promote the wheat seed germination and seedling growth. The germination potential, germination rate, germination index, and vigor index increased by 26.7, 9.1, 16.9, and 46.9% after 7 min’s DBD plasma treatment, respectively; the root length, shoot length, fresh weight, and dry weight of the seedlings also increased after the DBD plasma treatment. The osmotic-adjustment products, proline and soluble sugar contents, in the wheat seedlings were significantly enhanced after the DBD plasma treatment with an appropriate time scale, while the malondialdehyde content decreased. Moreover, the activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase also increased after the DBD plasma treatment. The DBD plasma treatment led to etching effect on the wheat seed coat, resulting in the improvement of its water absorption capacity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Projects funded by State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau (A314021402-1520), Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (A315021525), the National Natural Science Foundation, P.R. China (51608448), and Fundamental Research Fund for the Central Universities (Z109021617) for the financial supports to this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yujuan Li, Tiecheng Wang, Yiran Meng, Guangzhou Qu, Dongli Liang & Shibin Hu

  2. Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and the Agri-environment in Northwest China, Ministry of Agriculture, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yujuan Li, Tiecheng Wang, Yiran Meng, Guangzhou Qu, Dongli Liang & Shibin Hu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Tiecheng Wang & Qiuhong Sun

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  1. Yujuan Li
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Correspondence to Tiecheng Wang or Shibin Hu.

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Li, Y., Wang, T., Meng, Y. et al. Air Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Induced Germination and Growth Enhancement of Wheat Seed. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 37, 1621–1634 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-017-9835-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-017-9835-5

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