Abstract
Treatment of plant seeds with electromagnetic fields or non-thermal plasmas aims to take advantage of plant functional plasticity towards stimulation of plant agricultural performance. In this study, the effects of pre-sowing seed treatment using 200 Pa vacuum (7 min), 5.28 MHz radio-frequency cold plasma (CP −2, 5, and 7 min) and electromagnetic field (EMF −5, 10, 15 min) on seed germination kinetics, content of phytohormones, morphometric parameters of seedlings and leaf proteome were assessed. CP 7 min and EMF 15 min treatments caused 19–24% faster germination in vitro; germination in the substrate was accelerated by vacuum (9%) and EMF 15 min (17%). The stressors did not change the seed germination percentage, with exception of EMF 5 min treatment that caused a decrease by 7.5%. Meanwhile both CP 7 min and EMF 15 min treatments stimulated germination, but the EMF treatment resulted in higher weight of leaves. Stressor-specific changes in phytohormone balance were detected in seeds: vacuum treatment decreased zeatin amount by 39%; CP treatments substantially increased gibberellin content, but other effects strongly varied with the treatment duration; the abscisic acid content was reduced by 55–60% after the EMF treatment. Analysis of the proteome showed that short exposure of seeds to the EMF or CP induced a similar long-term effect on gene expression in leaves, mostly stimulating expression of proteins involved in photosynthetic processes and their regulation.
Highlights
Treatment of plant seeds with electromagnetic fields or non-thermal plasmas aims to take advantage of plant functional plasticity towards stimulation of plant agricultural performance
Stressor-specific changes in phytohormone balance were detected in seeds: vacuum treatment decreased zeatin amount by 39%; cold plasma (CP) treatments substantially increased gibberellin content, but other effects strongly varied with the treatment duration; the abscisic acid content was reduced by 55–60% after the electromagnetic field (EMF) treatment
The performed germination tests showed that pre-sowing treatment of sunflower seeds with vacuum, CP and EMF induced changes in both germination kinetics in vitro (Fig. 1A) and in the substrate (Fig. 1B), and these changes depend on the treatment duration and germination conditions
Summary
Treatment of plant seeds with electromagnetic fields or non-thermal plasmas aims to take advantage of plant functional plasticity towards stimulation of plant agricultural performance. The effects of pre-sowing seed treatment using 200 Pa vacuum (7 min), 5.28 MHz radio-frequency cold plasma (CP −2, 5, and 7 min) and electromagnetic field (EMF −5, 10, 15 min) on seed germination kinetics, content of phytohormones, morphometric parameters of seedlings and leaf proteome were assessed. The stressors did not change the seed germination percentage, with exception of EMF 5 min treatment that caused a decrease by 7.5% Both CP 7 min and EMF 15 min treatments stimulated germination, but the EMF treatment resulted in higher weight of leaves. Numerous studies have demonstrated that such treatments are effective for enhancing agronomic seed quality and have potential to be used for seed decontamination, activation of germination and seedling growth. Numerous other hormones exert impact on germination by modulating the effects of ABA/GA balance: auxin IAA (indole-3-acetic acid) is known to be a negative regulator of germination; ethylene, citokinins, brasinosteroids, and strigolactones can stimulate germination by various modes; salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonate (stress hormones) may affect germination positively or negatively depending on the situation[20]
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