Plasma Agriculture from Laboratory to Farm: A Review
, Kenji Ishikawa 1, Takamasa Okumura 1,2,3, Kazunori Koga 1,2,3 and Masaharu Shiratani 1,2,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript deals with the possible use of the physical method in agriculture: non-thermal atmospheric plasma (cold atmospheric plasma). It is an attractive topic that is being researched in many laboratories, with field applications, around the world. The authors have compiled the results of a representative number of articles, especially from the last decade. The article is logically compiled, is based on the explanation of basic principles and continues with separate subchapters.
I have only a few comments and the authors should accept them:
List all common plant names, including (Latin name), either all without authors after the name or all with authors, e.g. line 297-298 not: Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), chili pepper, black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds... in correct form without author: Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare), chili pepper (Capsicum annunum agg.), black pine (Pinus nigra), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds... in correct form with author: Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), chili pepper (Capsicum annunum agg.), black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold), and basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) seeds...
There you used the term plasma-treated water (PTW) in the article, but it is usually used plasma activated water (PAW) in the world. Is it the same or not? Please explain.
It might be useful to cite the work that stood at the beginning of the NTP research vs. seed plants as the beginning of interest in applications in agriculture. I recommend: Volin et al. (2000): Modification of seed germination performance through cold plasma chemistry technology. CROP SCIENCE, Dubinov et al. (2000): Effect of glow discharge air plasma on grain crops seed. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, Stranak et al. (2006) Technological applications of surfatron produced discharge. JOURNAL OF OPTOELECTRONICS AND ADVANCED MATERIALS, Sera et al. (2010) Influence of Plasma Treatment on Wheat and Oat Germination and Early Growth. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE,
Author Response
Reviewer 1
Comment 1: List all common plant names, including (Latin name), either all without authors after the name or all with authors, e.g. line 297-298 not: Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), chili pepper, black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds... in correct form without author: Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare), chili pepper (Capsicum annunum agg.), black pine (Pinus nigra), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds... in correct form with author: Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), chili pepper (Capsicum annunum agg.), black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold), and basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) seeds...
Response: We are very thankful to review for correction. We have followed the reviewer suggestion in the whole manuscript as well as on line 305-306.
Very recently, barley (Hordeum vulgare), chili pepper (Capsicum), black pine (Pinus nigra), and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds treated with different types of plasma [44,84–86].
Comment 2: There you used the term plasma-treated water (PTW) in the article, but it is usually used plasma activated water (PAW) in the world. Is it the same or not? Please explain.
Response: We are agreed with the reviewer the plasma-activated water (PAW) is commonly used in the plasma community, but from few years, plasma-treated water (PTW) is also regularly used [Below we have given some references those used the plasma-treated water instead of plasma-activated water]. As the researchers of other field don’t understand the meaning of “activated” and it increases the complication so “treated” is simply understandable. Moreover, for our review, plasma-treated seeds and plasma-treated water is convenient to use and for understanding to the readers. However, we have mentioned in the text plasma-treated water (PTW) [also known as the plasma-activated water (PAW)] on line 55.
- Park, D. Dobrynin, G. Fridman and A. Fridman, "Effects of plasma treated water on plants," 2012 Abstracts IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, Edinburgh, 2012, pp. 1P-155-1P-155, doi: 10.1109/PLASMA.2012.6383483.
- Abuzairi, N. R. Poespawati, R. W. Purnamaningsih and D. Apriady, "Preliminary study of plasma-treated water for germination stimulation of agricultural seeds," 2017 15th International Conference on Quality in Research (QiR) : International Symposium on Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nusa Dua, 2017, pp. 128-131, doi: 10.1109/QIR.2017.8168467.
Giichiro Uchida et al Selective production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in the plasma-treated water by using a nonthermal high-frequency plasma jet 2018 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 57 0102B4
Uta Schnabel, et al Plasma-Treated Air and Water—Assessment of Synergistic Antimicrobial Effects for Sanitation of Food Processing Surfaces and Environment. Foods. 2019 Feb; 8(2): 55
Dana Ziuzina et al. Hydra as a Model for Screening Ecotoxicological Effects of Plasma-Treated Water. Plasma Medicine DOI: 10.1615/PlasmaMed.2018028269
Jung S et al. The use of atmospheric pressure plasma-treated water as a source of nitrite for emulsion-type sausage. Meat Science, 18 Jun 2015, 108:132-137
Comment 3: It might be useful to cite the work that stood at the beginning of the NTP research vs. seed plants as the beginning of interest in applications in agriculture. I recommend: Volin et al. (2000): Modification of seed germination performance through cold plasma chemistry technology. CROP SCIENCE, Dubinov et al. (2000): Effect of glow discharge air plasma on grain crops seed. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, Stranak et al. (2006) Technological applications of surfatron produced discharge. JOURNAL OF OPTOELECTRONICS AND ADVANCED MATERIALS, Sera et al. (2010) Influence of Plasma Treatment on Wheat and Oat Germination and Early Growth. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE,
Response: We are agreed to these references as References 6,7 and 8, and cited in the text on line 43-45, line 107-111, and line 428-433.
The use of different feeding gases can alter the plasma chemistry that leads to an increase in variation of seed coating technology in comparison to traditional methods [8].
Šerá et al. showed that germination rate of wheat increases when treated with Plasonic AR-550-M at power 500 W and pressure 140 Pa, whereas no significant effect observed for Oat caryopses treatment [6]. On the other hand, Dubinov et al. revealed 27 % increase in the quantity of germination of Oat seeds treated with glow discharge plasma at pressure 13 Pa with respect to reference seeds [7].
Volin et al. showed that plasma treatment in different feeding gases could alter germination time [8]. Treatment of seeds in the presence of carbon tetrafluoride delays the germination of two pea cultivars (Pisu sativum cv. Little Marvel, P. sativum cv. Alaska) and radish (Raphanus sativus). At the same time, plasma treatment in the presence of cyclohexane can significantly accelerate the germination percentage of soybean [8]. Hence, the different feeding gas alters the plasma chemistry that provides alternatives for seed coating [8].
Reviewer 2 Report
Paper is a review focused on pre-harvesting plasma treatment of plants.
Topic is interesting and as for the person working in the field I strongly believe that in perspective plasma treatment can be implemented into a real agricultural process.
Generally, the title of the paper is informative; quality of figures is fine, the length of the manuscript is basically suitable and the number of references is sufficient. Language is proper. Paper can be published in present form.
Author Response
Reviewer 2
Paper is a review focused on pre-harvesting plasma treatment of plants.
Topic is interesting and as for the person working in the field I strongly believe that in perspective plasma treatment can be implemented into a real agricultural process.
Generally, the title of the paper is informative; quality of figures is fine, the length of the manuscript is basically suitable and the number of references is sufficient. Language is proper. Paper can be published in present form.
Response: We are very thankful to the reviewer for support and accept our manuscript in the present form.
Reviewer 3 Report
1. In legend of figure 2 authors must add acronym NTP
2. Objectives of review must be added at the end of Introduction section
3. So me conclusions chulos be added at the end of section 6
Author Response
Comments of reviewer 3
Comment 1: In legend of figure 2 authors must add acronym NTP
Response: We have added the acronym NTP in the legend of Figure 2
Figure 2. Schematic representation of non-thermal plasma (NTP) applications.
Comment 2: Objectives of review must be added at the end of Introduction section
Response: We have added the objective on lines 61-63.
This review aims to discuss the current status of plasma treatment in the pre-harvest stage and its possible mechanism. Additionally, explore the possibilities of using plasma in the actual agriculture field.
Comment 3: So me conclusions chulos be added at the end of section 6
Response: We have added the conclusion on line 502-507.
Conclusion
In this review, we concluded that the direct plasma treatments working at low/medium/atmospheric pressure and PTW treatments could change the physical and biochemical properties of seeds. These changes result in the enhancement of seed germination and seedling growth. However, it was imperative to do the real field experiments with the plasma-treated seeds to make it useful to society. Otherwise, plasma agriculture will be limited to the research articles and not valuable for society.
