germination ability

germination energy

plasma reactor

fungal colonies

The aim of this research was to determine the potential effect of plasma on fungi colonizing winter wheat grain and the effect of this process on seed quality. The subject of our study was the winter wheat grain. The process of seed disinfection was conducted in a reactor with a packed-bed (wheat grain). The assessment of both the effectiveness of spore destruction and of seed quality were conducted under 3-, 10-, and 30-second exposures. The voltage was set at 8 kV. For the mycological tests, 200 seeds were selected from each variant of the experiment, including control treatment that did not undergo plasma processing. Half of the seeds, i.e. 100, were subjected on their surface to 10-minute disinfection with 0.5% solution of sodium hypochlorite. The other half were put on Petri dishes filled with glucose-potato medium acidified with citric acid (PDA). A detailed study of seed quality (germination energy and ability as well as leaf and root length and the dry matter of the plant), was conducted under laboratory conditions, in a Sanyo climatic chamber on Petri dishes in two independent series of 10 repeats for each duration of exposure. The experiment demonstrated that the exposure of winter wheat grain to low-temperature plasma resulted in the reduction of the number of colonies of fungi forming on grain in the optimum time of 10 seconds. The results also showed a positive effect of the use of cold plasma on the basic values determining seed lot quality as well as on the development of winter wheat in the initial growth stage.