Cold Plasma Treatment of Sweet Basil Seeds and Nutrient Water in Hydroponics: Impact on Growth and Quality

Summary

ABSTRACT This study investigated the combined effect of two plasma treatments during hydroponic growing of sweet basil plants. Air‐based cold plasma was applied to basil seeds using a Plasmajet. Also, plasma‐activated water (PAW) was produced by using a submerged gliding arc plasmatron system followed by mixing the PAW with a nutrient solution (NS) to make plasma‐activated NS (PANS). Basil plants from untreated and plasma‐treated seeds were grown hydroponically using NS and PANS in a greenhouse in an ebb‐and‐flow system. Basil plants were harvested after 21 days and analyzed for their dry tissue mass, growth parameters (plant height, number of branches and nodes, root length, and leaf index), quality (color, texture), and microbiology (total plate count). The combination of plasma treatmen