The effects of atmospheric plasma jet treatment to the germination and enhancement growth of sunflower seeds

Abstract

Using the plasma technique, the sunflower seed was treated by means of argon plasma. The argon plasma was driven by high voltage DC pulse at 25 kHz. Plasma dissipated power was varied at 0.41, 0.51, 0.61 and 0.72 watts and argon gas flow rate was fixed at 4 liters per minute for 15 sec. The experiment analyzed the physical properties, chemical properties and growth rate. Concerning the physical properties, the morphology was checked via the contact angle and roughness by SEM. The chemical properties were analyzed via contact angle. The growth rate was checked using 4 processes: The 1st is the water uptake, the 2nd is germination count rate within 5 days, the 3rd is seeding length within 7 days and the 4th is dry weight of seeding with 80 °C in the oven for 24 hrs. The results show the contact angle of control is 41.08 degree. After treatment using plasma jet the contact angle decreased, henceforth the wettability increased. Using increased plasma power the surface roughness increased. The water uptake of plasma with dissipated power at 0.41 watts gave the best result. Following plasma dissipated power at 0.41 and 0.61 watts respectively the germination count rates are 68% and 56%. The seeding length as well as the dry weight decreased when the power increased.