Abstract
To meet the needs of the hungry population, it is critical to boost agricultural product production while minimizing contaminated waste. The use of two nonthermal technologies, pulsed electric field (PEF) and nonthermal plasma (NTP), is increasing every day. As both PEF and NTP are relatively newer areas, there is limited knowledge about these two technologies and their modes of action. Studies showed that PEF treatment on the plant seeds helps germination and seedling growth. The positive impact of PEF intensity is highly dependent on the seed coat type and plant species. Another nonthermal technology, NTP, affects seed germination, seedling growth, yield, and resilience to abiotic stress when generated at varying pressures with and without different feed gases. Early germination, germination rate, and germination percentage were all improved when the seedlings were treated with NTP. Similarly to the PEF treatment, NTP had a negative or no effect on germination. This review examined the effects of PEF and NTP on seed germination and analyzed the situation and mechanism behind the positive or negative effect. Deactivation of proteins and enzymes to extend the shelf life of beverages is another prominent application of PEF and NTP. The interaction of PEF and NTP with proteins aids in understanding the microscopic mechanism of these technologies. Therefore, we covered in this review the potential structural and functional changes in proteins/enzymes as a result of PEF and NTP, as well as a comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of these two technologies.
Highlights
The electric field affects plants in both soil and air, as the Earth has an electrified environment maintained by a global circuit
Different degrees of electric field strength were employed on different plant seeds in these studies, making it difficult to determine the particular electric field intensity that promotes seed germination
We inferred from the research that moderate pulsed electric field (PEF) intensity causes seed coat degradation, which increases water imbibition and allows an embryo to stretch, which aids seed germination
Summary
The electric field affects plants in both soil and air, as the Earth has an electrified environment maintained by a global circuit. Different types of seed treatment techniques were used to increase crop yield under regularly changing environmental stress [7]. Traditional methods, such as cooking, boiling, frying, drying, etc., are frequently used to increase the shelf life of food products [8]. As the world population increases, there is a drastic increase in the consumption of processed foodstuffs that increases chemical additives and thermal processing This results in inadvertent outcomes such as the formation of toxic compounds, nutrient losses, adverse effects on color and texture, etc. 2. Germination Rate and Seedling Growth in Plants after the Pulsed Electric Field Treatment. We focused on some of the reported work by the various groups on the diverse plant species such as Leaf Lettuce, Barley, Arabidopsis, Kale, Wheat, Chickpea, Mung bean, Bitter gourd, Tomato, Medicago Sativa, Chili, Smallflower Morningglory, and Green Foxtail
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