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Application of Plasma and Pulsed Power Technology in Agriculture and Food Processing

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Dear Colleagues,

Innovative technologies with regard to food production (preharvest in agriculture) and preservation (postharvest) are required to meet the emerging challenges of food safety in the complexities of the modern food supply chain. Pulsed power technologies, including high-voltage and plasma technologies, have been applied in agricultural and food processing industries, and are a promising candidate for innovative technology which contributes to a sustainable food supply chain. To accelerate the progress of this new technology, sharing information related to pulsed power applications in agriculture and food processing is important.

This Special Issue is mainly focused on following topics: 1) pulsed-power generators and plasma devices for agriculture and food processing; 2) innovative and novel applications of high-voltage and plasma in agriculture; 3) interactions between pulse-electric fields (or plasma) and metabolism of plants; 4) inactivation of pathogenic bacteria; and 5) maintaining the freshness of agricultural products.

Prof. Dr. Koichi Takaki
Prof. Dr. Nobuya Hayashi
Dr. Douyan Wang
Prof. Dr. Takayuki Ohshima
Guest Editors

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Keywords

pulsed power
plasma
pulse electric field
food processing
enzyme activity control
food preservation
plant hormone control
seed germination
plant growth promotion
bacteria inactivation

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Research

11 pages, 3803 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Persistence of Growth Enhancement Induced by Oxygen Plasma Irradiation Seed and Leaf

by Shameem Ahmed, Sayma Khanom and Nobuya Hayashi

Agronomy 2023, 13(6), 1579; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13061579 - 11 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 798

Abstract

The variation of gene expression of seeds or leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated by irradiation with oxygen and air plasmas. The irradiation with oxygen plasma reported on the growth promotion and induced the consequence of gene expression in plant cells by neutral active oxygen species. The increase in leaf area ratio by oxygen plasma to seeds was due to epigenetics such as activation of DNA demethylation transcription factors and the growth enhancement effect induced by the plasma irradiation of seeds was inherited by next-generation cells through cell division even after germination. In oxygen irradiation for 10 s, expression of each de-DNA methylation-related gene increased, and DNA methylation-related genes decreased in expression. DNA acetylation that induces gene expressions was suppressed. However, irradiated for 20 s by oxygen, both demethylation suppression and promotion and methylation/acetylation suppression and promotion were obtained. On the other hand, methylation and demethylation may occur at the same time but were not significant and the acetylation was suppressed by air plasma irradiation. In both cases, active oxygen species was the key factor for the variation of gene expression. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Plasma and Pulsed Power Technology in Agriculture and Food Processing)

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12 pages, 4183 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Germination and Growth Improvement of Some Micro-Greens under the Influence of Reactive Species Produced in a Non-Thermal Plasma (NTP)

by Iuliana Motrescu, Mihai Alexandru Ciolan, Anca Elena Calistru and Gerard Jitareanu

Agronomy 2023, 13(1), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13010150 - 02 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1780

Abstract

Micro-greens or sprouts are commonly used in the diet of many cultures owing to their health benefits. In this work we use a non-chemical solution method to stimulate the germination and growth of seeds used for sprouting, based on non-thermal plasma discharge (NTP). Such a technology could represent an alternative not only for reducing the production costs for growing micro-greens but also as a pre-sowing method for slow germinating species or those under draught stress. To evaluate the efficiency of the treatments, Brassica oleracea and Lepidium sativum seeds were exposed to a non-thermal plasma discharge produced in atmospheric air in different conditions. The strongest modifications were recorded when the discharge was produced in a closed environment when the reactive species produced in air remained in high concentrations near the seeds. The garden cress exhibited stronger modifications, with a decreasing of the water contact angle of the seeds by up to about 14%, which means an increase of the hydrophilicity of the surface of the seeds. The stimulation of the growth was evaluated as an increase of the average stem length of (9 ± 0.4)% and of the root length of (38 ± 0.5)% as compared to sprouts grown from untreated seeds. This indicated that the reactive species were not only interacting with the surface of the seeds as proved by electron microscopy imaging but also penetrated inside the seeds, activating biological pathways that lead to the stimulation of growth in this case. A noticeable influence produced by the reactive species was also reflected in the biochemical results, where the analysis of the chlorophyll pigments indicated strong modifications, especially under the intensified action of the reactive species. The results prove an important contribution from the reactive species and show the possibility of using this technology to improve the growth of these micro-greens, reducing production time and even presenting the possibility of treating packaged seeds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Plasma and Pulsed Power Technology in Agriculture and Food Processing)

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