Introduction of a new atmospheric pressure plasma device and application on tomato seeds

doi:10.4236/as.2011.21004

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Vol.2, No.1, 23-27 (2011) Agricultural Sciences

doi:10.4236/as.2011.2 1004

Introduction of a new atmospheric pressure p lasma

device and application on tomato seeds*

Zhuwen Zhou1#, Yanfen Huang2,3, SizeYang4, Wei Chen4

1Institute of Applied Physics of Guizhou Normal College, Guiyang, China; #Corresponding Author: zhuwenz@gmail.com

2Department of Chemistry – Biology Sciences of Guizhou Normal College, Guiyang, China

3Horticulture Research Institute, Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guiyang, China

4Institute of Physics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Received 19 August 2010; revised 15 December 2010; accepted 6 January 2011.

ABSTRACT

We designed new atmospheric pressure plasma

device, to explore appro priate v oltage of pl asma

treatment that promote traits and yield of to-

mato, tomato seeds were treated by plasma at

4760 to 6800 V, and traits and yield of tomato

were observed. The results showed that the ef-

fects of different voltage plasma treatments on

seed germination were not the same. The bloom

times, the height, the caulis, the extent of the

plants and the average weight, length，diameter

of each fruit in the seven treatment groups from

4760 to 6800 V were increased distinctly. The

tomato yields of seven different plasma voltage

treated groups were increased than the un-

treated (CK). In most indexes of our tests, ef-

fects of (5440 ~ 6120 V) plasma voltage treat-

ments were better than of other voltages, the

best was 6120 V plasma voltage treatment. So

the tomato yield increase and the most the

botany properties of the tomato are improved.

The discharges were not uniform and the pow-

ers were lower in low voltages (4760 ~ 5100V),

and the discharge powers were higher in high

voltages (6460 ~ 6800V). There was a step un-

altered violet blue light from 5440V to 6120V, it

was nearly uniform discharges, it maybe due to

the energy of the electron and the active air

particles in the plasma increasing with atmos-

pheric plasma voltage adding, more electric

charges are produced per unit time and cannot

be neutralized at once, which can strengthen

the reaction betw een the active air particles and

seeds. The active air particles and ultraviolet

radiation can penetrate into the capsule of the

seeds，accelerate to decompose the inner nu-

triment of the seeds, reduce relative penetrabil-

ity of cell velum, improve the activities of the

root of the tomato seedling. Test data of fruit

yield of the tomato are consistent with the sta-

tistical regressive line.

Keyw ords: Atmospheric Pressure Plasma; Treat

Voltage; Tomato Seed; Yield

1. INTRODUCTION

Applications of physical technology in agriculture are

more and more popular, but most of them are radiations

and irradiations with γ-ray, 60Co-ray, laser, electric and

magnetic field,[1-13] cells of plant seeds are damaged

by radiations.

Plasma has been used in industry for applications; few

experimental studies have been carried out for seed mu-

tation induced by atmospheric plasma. We used a at-

mospheric plasma discharge equipment [14,15] to study

the mutations of plant seeds. The device is atmospheric

dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) with two parallel high

voltage electrodes. A mass of electrons bomb plant seeds

and bring much ozone, because seeds were put under

atmospherical pressure plasma, the plasma would bring a

mass electron，ion and ozone, the mass electron were

faster and bomb seeds，the ozone can kill bacterium and

virus, and also plant seeds are radiated by ultraviolet-ray,

plant seeds are mutated by the many factors. We tested

with tomato seeds (No.10 Hongza), to study the effects

of atmospheric pressure plasma on the seeds germination,

seedling growth, fruit yield and quality of tomato, in

order to find the methods of improving the plant growth

and increasing fruit yield of tomato.

* Project supported by the Nature Science Foundation of Guizhou Prov-

ince Science and Technology Bureau under Grant No J20082101.

Z. W. Zhou et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 23-27

2. EXPERIMENT

The test device is shown in Figure 1, it is two parallel

containers made of quartz, the thickness of quartz is

1mm, the length is 15 cm, the width is 5cm, the space of

dielectrics is 10mm. there are some liquid of potassium

chloride in two containers, two inner copper rings

dipped in the liquid are two electrodes connected to AC

high voltage power supply 30 kV with frequency 8 ~ 30

kHz. Different plant seeds were treated with different

plasma voltages, for example, tomato seed for 4760 ~

6800V, eggplant seed for 4420 ~ 6800V [16], cucumber

seed for 5610 ~ 7310V [15].

As compact joined between the liquid of potassium

chloride and dielectrics, both cool quartz dielectrics and

uniform plasma were discharged. In our experiment, the

tomato seeds were uniformly put on a transmission belt

at constant speed, turned on high voltage power supply

to discharge, the seeds passed through the plasma, treat-

ment time were controlled by the speed of the belt.

There were seven different voltage (4760, 5100, 5440,

5780, 6120, 6460 and 6800 V) treatments with the same

treatment time 6 seconds, the different voltages were

produced between two parallel high voltage electrodes

and the plasma charges occurred in atmospheric pressure

environment, therefore the experiment is called atmos-

pheric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The process of

treating the seeds by plasma device is shown in Figure

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

We designed an atmospheric pressure plasma device.

The tomato seeds were treated by different voltage from

4760 to 6800 V. The results showed that the effects of

different voltages plasma treatments on seed germination

and growth were not the same. The height (90 ~ 100cm),

the caulis (> 14cm), the extent（> 55×60cm）of the plant

and the single fruit weight（> 80g）, the length（≥ 5.2cm）,

the diameter（≥ 5.5cm）of the tomato of seven treatments

from 4760 to 6800 V were increased distinctly in Table

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the atmospheric plasma di-

electric barrier discharge (DBD).

Figure 2. Process of treating seeds by plasma device.

1. In addition, anti-virus of seven treatments (incidence

2.08%) were better than the untreated except sixth and

seventh treatment (incidence were as same as the un-

treated 4.17%). The bloom times of all the treated seeds

were longer and earlier than the untreated (CK), as well

as the maturity time (Figure 3). The tomato yields of

seven different voltage plasma treatments were increased,

the fifth, the fourth and the third treatments were better

than the untreated (CK), the yields of the three treat-

ments increased 26.56%, 20.31%, 16.55% than CK. In

Figure 4 there were obviously increasing yields of the

tomato under the proper plasma treatment voltages

ranges (5440 ~ 6800V), the figure showed that some

experimental data compared with Gaussian distribution

curve of the fruit yields of the tomato by using a regres-

sion line estimate statistical method, the Gaussian dis-

tribution curve was regression equation:



yaexpb xcd





 



here a = 0.743, b = 1.500, c = 6.120, d = 2.797. The

Gaussian distribution curve was comparatively con-

vinced since the F-value was calculated: F =5675 > F

0.05(1, 5)=6.61, remain standard error: s = 0.02, it showed

that the error was very small between real fruit yields

and estimated. In 5440 ~ 6120 V voltage ranges, the fruit

yields were better than other voltages. In most indexes of

our tests, the effects of 5440 ~ 6120 V plasma treatments

were better than of other voltages, the best was 6120 V

plasma treatment, real test data of the fruit yields were

consistent with the regressive line (estimated yield of

forecasting).

Different voltage( 4760 ~ 6800 V) plasma treating the

tomato seeds were all better than the untreated (CK) in

our experiments, the reasons might be that the treated

seeds had been in different physical conditions, the at-

mospheric pressure plasma device was a dielectric bar-

rier discharge (DBD)，it created a typical glow discharge

free from filament and arc plasma,[17] the macro-

temperature of the plasma was nearly at room tempera-

Z. W. Zhou et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 23-27

Table 1. Change of botany properties of the Tomato treated by different plasma voltage.

treat

group

Treat

voltage

(V)

Plant height

(cm)

Extent

(cm×cm)

Caulis

height

(cm)

Root

length

(cm)

Incidence

of virus

(cm)

Bloom

time

(day)

Fruit

length

(cm)

Fruit

diameter

(cm)

Fruit

weight

(g)

Fruit

yield

(kg/667m2)

Increased

yield

(%)

CK 0 90-100 55×60 14 17.34.17 16 5.0 5.5 80 2797

1 4760 95-105 60×65 15 19.32.08 17 5.2 5.5 85 2921 4.43

2 5100 100-110 58×63 15 18.72.08 17 5.1 5.6 85 2997 7.15

3 5440 100-110 57×60 17 19.42.08 17 5.0 5.7 90 3260 16.55

4 5780 105-115 55×68 17 18.92.08 17 5.3 5.7 100 3365 20.31

5 6120 105-115 60×70 17 19.42.08 17 5.2 5.8 95 3540 26.56

6 6460 100-110 53×64 16 20.24.17 17 5.0 5.6 85 3142 12.33

7 6800 95-100 56×62 16 19.94.17 17 5.1 5.6 90 3172 13.41

Figure 3. Growth of the tomato plants in the test farmland. The tomato seeds treated by plasma had more fruits

than CK, and the treated were premature.

ture, and plasma discharge gas pressure was atmospheric

pressure. Because the seeds were passed through the

plasma on the transmission belt, the seeds were treated

with uniform plasma discharge and were not burned.

In Figure 5 there were seven different discharge proc-

esses with seven different voltages, intensity of violet

blue light (350nm ~ 500nm) gradually increased with

voltage adding (see Figure 6), x axis denoted voltage,

and y axis denoted the intensity of violet blue light on

Figure 6. The discharges were not uniform using the

lower powers in low voltages (4760 ~ 5100V), and the

higher powers in high voltages (6460 ~ 6800V). There

was a step unaltered violet blue light from 5440V to

6120V, it was nearly uniform discharges, it due to the

energy of the electron and the active air particles in the

plasma increasing with atmospheric plasma voltage

adding, more electric charges are produced per unit time

and cannot be neutralized at once, which can strengthen

the reaction between the active air particles and seeds.

The active air particles and ultraviolet radiation can

penetrate into the capsule of the seeds，accelerate to

decompose the inner nutriment of the seeds, reduce rela-

tive penetrability of cell velum, improve the activities of

the root of the tomato seedling. Lower voltages (< 5440V)

cannot penetrate into the seeds capsule and higher volt-

ages (> 6120 V) can burnt the inner cells of the seeds.

Z. W. Zhou et al. / Agricultural Sciences 2 (2011) 23-27

Figure 4. Regression line analysis of fruit yields of tomato. ‘o’

represents real yield, ‘—’ represents regression line ( estimated

yield of forecasting).

Figure 5. Seven different discharge processes with seven dif-

ferent voltages, intensity of violet blue light gradually in-

creased with adding voltage. In figures a ~ b the discharges

were not uniform and the powers were lower with low voltages

4760~5100V, and the discharge powers were higher with high

voltages 6460V~6800V in figure f ~ g. There were uniform

discharges under the middle plasma voltages 5440, 5780, and

6120V in figures c, d, e.

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

4.76 5.15.445.786.126.46 6.8

Plasma voltage (kV)

Violet blue light intensity

(arb.units)

intensity

Figure 6. The violet blue light intensity versus different

plasma voltage.

For the reasons, the tomato yield increased and the most

of the tomato botany properties were improved.

4. CONCLUSION

The tomato yields of seven different plasma voltage

treated groups were increased than the untreated (CK).

In most indexes of our tests, effects of (5440 ~ 6120 V)

plasma voltage treatments were better than of other

voltages, the best was 6120 V plasma voltage treatment.

There was a step unaltered violet blue light from 5440V

to 6120V, it was nearly uniform discharges, So the to-

mato yields increased and the most of the botany proper-

ties of the tomato were improved, it due to the energy of

the electron and the active air particles in the plasma

increasing with atmospheric plasma voltage adding,

more electric charges are produced per unit time and

cannot be neutralized at once, which can strengthen the

reaction between the active air particles and seeds. The

active air particles and ultraviolet radiation can penetrate

into the capsule of the seeds，accelerate to decompose

the inner nutriment of the seeds, reduce relative penetra-

bility of cell velum, improve the activities of the root of

the tomato seedling. Test data of fruit yield of the tomato

were consistent with the statistical regressive line. In

recent research, eggplant seeds were treated by the same

method, there were the same conclusion in some as-

pects.[16, 18,19]

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