Changes in Growth and Production of Non-Psychotropic Cannabinoids Induced by Pre-Sowing Treatment of Hemp Seeds with Cold Plasma, Vacuum and Electromagnetic Field

Anatolii Ivankov,Rasa Zukiene,Vida Mildaziene,Petras Rimantas Venskutonis,Irina Filatova,Laima Degutyte-Fomins,Paulius Kraujalis,Zita Nauciene,Asta Malakauskiene,Veronika Lyushkevich

doi:10.3390/app10238519

Abstract

In this study, the effects of seed treatments with different stressors, such as cold plasma (CP), a vacuum and an electromagnetic field (EMF), on the in vitro germination of industrial hemp cv. Futura 75 were compared with the effects on germination in the field, plant growth, and the amount of major cannabinoids in the leaves and inflorescences of female plants. CP and EMF (but not vacuum) treatments improved in vitro seed germination, but had no impact on germination in the field. EMF treatment increased the weight of the above-ground part of male and female plants grown for 4 months by 65–70% and the number of female inflorescences by 70%. CP stimulated the growth of male plants (weight increased 1.4 times) but reduced the growth of female plants. Vacuum treatment did not induce changes in the growth of female and male plants. Vacuum and EMF treatments did not change the amount of cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), but CP decreased the CBDA content in hemp leaves by 41%. Vacuum treatment increased the amount of CBDA in female plant inflorescences by 26%. Thus, hemp seed treatment with EMF has a potential application for increasing the biomass of female plants. CP treatment can be used to increase male plant production while vacuum treatment can stimulate CBD production.

Highlights

The improvement of crop agricultural performance and production yields without using chemicals is one of the most important challenges in sustainable and organic agriculture [1,2]
In order to determine the optimal duration for seed treatments, pilot experiments were performed to test the effect on germination by using irradiation with cold plasma (CP) for 2, 5, and 7 min, or treatment with radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field (EMF) for 5, 10, and 15 min
A small number of long-term studies on the effects of CP [10,29,30,31,32] and EMFs [10,32,33,34,35,36] have been performed, and the results show that the effects of seed treatments on crop growth are retained for the whole vegetation period in most cases

Summary

Introduction

The improvement of crop agricultural performance and production yields without using chemicals is one of the most important challenges in sustainable and organic agriculture [1,2]. Sci. 2020, 10, 8519 seed treatments are being used to increase seed quality and to stimulate germination [3,4]. In this respect, the effectiveness of physical stressors, such as low-temperature plasma (cold plasma (CP)) and electromagnetic fields (EMFs), has been intensively explored in the last several decades, and numerous studies concluded that such treatments can improve seed germination and enhance the production yields of various crops (reviewed in [5,6,7,8,9]). It was recently reported that red clover seed treatment with CP and EMFs can increase the biomass by up to 40% [10]

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