Atmospheric nonthermal plasma (ANTP) is used for various biological applications including seed quality improvements in crop production. However, the underlying mechanisms of plasma-induced seed action are not fully explained and operating large-scale ANTP on seeds is highly challenging. Two large-scale ANTPs, streamer corona plasma (SCP) and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma, were used to enhance rice seed vigor through surface modification and functionalization. The SCP and DBD plasma were conducted under the same power source and applied to rice seeds to modify their surface from being highly hydrophobic to being highly hydrophilic, as defined by the apparent contact angle measurement. The results show that SCP requires less treatment time (~ 2 min) for surface activation than the DBD plasma process (~ 10 min). Both plasma-treated seeds showed higher seed vigor than non-treated seeds. For 50% of the viable seeds to emerge, the SCP-treated seeds took on average about 62 h., while the untreated rice seeds took around 72 h. The germination percentage of all conditions is ~ 92% which is a typical proportion of good seed quality. The microstructure of the rice seed surface suggests that the bombardment of highly energetic ions and the reaction of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species on the seed surface cause morphological changes via surface etching and functionalization without any adverse effects on seed nutrition.

Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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水稻种子质量对大尺度大气非热等离子体的响应

大气非热等离子体 (ANTP) 用于各种生物应用，包括作物生产中的种子质量改进。然而，等离子体诱导种子作用的潜在机制尚未完全解释，并且在种子上操作大规模 ANTP 极具挑战性。两种大规模 ANTP，流光电晕等离子体 (SCP) 和介质阻挡放电 (DBD) 等离子体，用于通过表面改性和功能化增强水稻种子活力。SCP 和 DBD 等离子体在相同的电源下进行，并应用于水稻种子以将其表面从高度疏水改性为高度亲水，如表观接触角测量所定义。结果表明，与 DBD 等离子体工艺（约 10 分钟）相比，SCP 需要更少的表面活化处理时间（约 2 分钟）。两种经等离子体处理的种子均显示出比未经处理的种子更高的种子活力。为了使 50% 的有活力的种子长出，经过 SCP 处理的种子平均需要大约 62 小时，而未经处理的水稻种子大约需要 72 小时。所有条件的发芽率约为 92%，这是良好种子质量的典型比例。水稻种子表面的微观结构表明，高能离子的轰击以及活性氧和氮物质在种子表面的反应通过表面蚀刻和功能化引起形态变化，而对种子营养没有任何不利影响。所有条件的发芽率约为 92%，这是良好种子质量的典型比例。水稻种子表面的微观结构表明，高能离子的轰击以及活性氧和氮物质在种子表面的反应通过表面蚀刻和功能化引起形态变化，而对种子营养没有任何不利影响。所有条件的发芽率约为 92%，这是良好种子质量的典型比例。水稻种子表面的微观结构表明，高能离子的轰击以及活性氧和氮物质在种子表面的反应通过表面蚀刻和功能化引起形态变化，而对种子营养没有任何不利影响。

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