Abstract
The cultivation of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), a forage crop grown worldwide, is negatively affected by hard seed presence. We show that treatment of alfalfa seeds with an inductively coupled radio frequency oxygen plasma improves their surface hydrophilicity, as determined by water contact angle (WCA) measurements and water uptake. Furthermore, we see that these effects are mediated by functionalization and etching of the alfalfa seed surface. Surface chemistry is analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), while morphology is viewed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Plasma produces effective alfalfa seed hydrophilization with a variety of treatment parameters. With its potential for fine-tuning, plasma modification of seed wettability shows promise for introduction into agricultural practice.
Highlights
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), known as lucerne, is a forage crop grown around the world and is commonly considered the most important forage legume due to its high yield and quality
We show that treatment of alfalfa seeds with an inductively coupled radio frequency oxygen plasma improves their surface hydrophilicity, as determined by water contact angle (WCA) measurements and water uptake
As a way to circumvent this natural seed property for agricultural purposes, seed coat permeability should be increased. This is typically achieved through scarification of the alfalfa seed coat, which allows for improvement of seed water uptake [7]
Summary
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), known as lucerne, is a forage crop grown around the world and is commonly considered the most important forage legume due to its high yield and quality. Even in seeds stored for as long as 19 years, where the hard seed percentage decreased naturally, treated seed lots have still shown better results than untreated control seeds In those experiments, separate radio frequency (RF) electric field and infrared treatments were about as effective as the plasma treatment in achieving such results [6]. Tang et al [18] have treated alfalfa seeds with a glow discharge at low pressure, using neon as the process gas They found that the treatment at suitable conditions stimulated germination rate and germination vigor. The remaining two papers mainly considered plasma decontamination of alfalfa seeds; one used a pulsed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in argon to decrease E. coli presence on the seed surface [17], while the other soaked the seeds in plasma-activated water (PAW) to disinfect the seed of various pathogens [21]. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper using X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to analyze alfalfa seed surface chemistry after plasma treatment of seeds
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