In general, seed germination is improved by low-pressure plasma treatment using precursors such as air, nitrogen, O_2, and argon, etc. For the first time, low-pressure O₂ plasma was used to treat chili seeds in this study. When compared to untreated and vacuum-treated seeds, O₂ plasma treatment using the discharge power of 80 W for 60 s significantly improves chili seed germination and growth. The effect of vacuum on the germination and growth of chili seeds was also studied and shown to be negligible. The physical and chemical changes induced by O₂ plasma treatment were investigated to understand the plasma treatment to germination improvement. Combinatory etching and chemical modification aided imbibition and increased germination percentage in this O₂ plasma treatment on chili seeds. The success of this method has the potential to be scaled up to solve food security issues with seeds that would otherwise struggle to germinate.

一般而言，使用空气、氮气、O ₂和氩气等前驱物进行低压等离子体处理可以提高种子发芽率。本研究首次采用低压O ₂等离子体处理辣椒种子。与未经处理和真空处理的种子相比，使用 80 W 放电功率 60 秒的O ₂等离子体处理显着提高了辣椒种子的发芽和生长。真空对辣椒种子萌发和生长的影响也进行了研究，结果表明可以忽略不计。O ₂引起的物理和化学变化研究了等离子体处理以了解等离子体处理对发芽的改善。在辣椒种子的这种 O ₂等离子体处理中，组合蚀刻和化学改性有助于吸收和提高发芽率。这种方法的成功有可能扩大规模，以解决种子的粮食安全问题，否则这些种子将难以发芽。