Low-Pressure Plasma Application for the Inactivation of the Seed-borne Pathogen Xanthomonas campestris.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of low-pressure plasma treatment on seed disinfection and the possible mechanisms underlying this effect. Seed-borne disease refers to plant diseases that are transmitted by seeds; seed disinfection is an important technique for prevention of such diseases. In this study, the effectiveness of low-pressure plasma treatment in the inactivation of the seed-borne plant pathogenic bacterium, Xanthomonas campestris, inoculated on cruciferous seeds, was evaluated. The highest inactivation effect was observed when the treatment voltage and argon gas flow rate were 5.5 kV and 0.5 L/min, respectively. The viable cell number of X. campestris was 6.6 log cfu/seed before plasma treatment, and decreased by 3.9 log after 5 min of treatment and by 6.6 log after 40 min. Ethidium monoazide treatment and quantitative real-time PCR results indicated that both the cell membrane and target DNA region were damaged following 5 min of plasma treatment. Although both heat and ozone were generated during the plasma treatment, the contribution of both factors to the inactivation of X. campestris was small by itself in our low-pressure plasma system. Overall, we have shown that our low-pressure plasma system has great applicability to controlling plant pathogenic bacterium contamination of seeds.

Seed disinfection effect of atmospheric pressure plasma and low pressure plasma on Rhizoctonia solani.

Gas plasma generated and applied under two different systems, atmospheric pressure plasma and low pressure plasma, was used to investigate the inactivation efficacy on the seedborne pathogenic fungus, Rhizoctonia solani, which had been artificially introduced to brassicaceous seeds. Treatment with atmospheric plasma for 10 min markedly reduced the R. solani survival rate from 100% to 3% but delayed seed germination. The low pressure plasma treatment reduced the fungal survival rate from 83% to 1.7% after 10 min and the inactivation effect was dependent on the treatment time. The seed germination rate after treatment with the low pressure plasma was not significantly different from that of untreated seeds. The air temperature around the seeds in the low pressure system was lower than that of the atmospheric system. These results suggested that gas plasma treatment under low pressure could be effective in disinfecting the seeds without damaging them.