1Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Baburayanpettai, Chengalpattu-603 201, Tamil Nadu, India.
2Department of Seed Science and Technology, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Baburayanpettai, Chengalpattu-603 201, Tamil Nadu, India.
3Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bengaluru-560 012, Karnataka, India.
*Corresponding Author: Mokkaraj Jegadeeswaran, Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Baburayanpettai, Chengalpattu-603 201, Tamil Nadu, India. Email: jegades@gmail.com
Cold plasma is a non-thermal technology that has growing attention for its potential application in agriculture, particularly for seed quality enhancement and establishment of early crops. Cold plasma seed treatment is increasingly being identified as a potential alternative to conventional seed treatment practices.
The present study evaluated the effect of surface discharge cold plasma treatment on seed germination and seedling vigour in rice. Three popular rice varieties, IR-64, MTU-1010 and BPT-5204 and two traditional varieties, Chitrakar and KaruppuKavuni, were subjected to different plasma treatment times to evaluate the differences among genotypes. Surface discharge cold plasma was generated by a dielectric barrier discharge system under atmospheric air conditions. The variables measured were seed germination percen tage, root length, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight, seedling vigour index I and II.
The plasma treatment showed increased physiological quality parameters over the untreated control, with maximum responses in the cultivated varieties after 10 min of plasma treatment and in traditional varieties after 40 min of plasma treatment. The results clearly determine the effectiveness of cold plasma seed enhancement technology for seed germination and vigour improvement in rice, thus establishing its potential application in seed technology and crop improvement.
Cold plasma, Rice, Seed germination, Seed vigour, Surface discharge plasma
