Current status and future prospects of agricultural applications using atmospheric‐pressure plasma technologies

• Published in: Plasma processes and polymers Vol. 15; no. 2
• Main Authors: Ito, Masafumi, Oh, Jun‐Seok, Ohta, Takayuki, Shiratani, Masaharu, Hori, Masaru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2018
• Subjects: atmospheric pressure glow discharges (APGD); Deactivation; Decontamination; dielectric barrier discharges (DBD); Germination; Microorganisms; non‐thermal plasma; plasma jet; Plasmas; sterilization
• ISSN: 1612-8850; 1612-8869
• DOI: 10.1002/ppap.201700073

We review new trends of agricultural applications of atmospheric‐pressure plasmas for decontaminating agricultural products and enhancing seed germination and growth of plants and beneficial microorganisms. We classify the decontamination techniques into three kinds of treatments, which are gas‐phase, in‐liquid, and plasma‐activated liquid treatments, and introduce recent studies mainly after 2010, discussing the inactivation mechanism of microorganisms in each treatment. Likewise, we categorize the enhancement techniques into the same three kinds of treatments, and introduce the growth enhancements in detail, discussing the mechanisms and future prospects. New trends in agricultural applications of atmospheric‐pressure plasmas are reviewed. Applications such as sterilization of agricultural products, seed germinations, and growth enhancements of plants are introduced. The techniques are categorized into three kinds of treatments: gas‐phase, in‐liquid, and plasma‐activated liquid treatments. Moreover, the mechanisms of sterilizations and growth enhancements, and future prospects are discussed.