Seed priming with cold plasma improved early growth, flowering, and protection of Cichorium intybus against selenium nanoparticle

AbstractPlasma as a rapidly evolving technology has been succeeded to widely exploit in various industrial fields. We attempt to address the short- and long-time effects of seed priming with cold plasma in Cichorium intybus. The seeds were subjected to plasma (dielectric barrier discharge). The post-reactions of the plasma-primed seedlings were monitored in response to different concentrations (۰, ۲, and ۱۰ mgl−۱) of selenium nanoparticle (nSe). The plasma treatments enhanced seedling early growth in both shoot and roots. Besides, the simultaneous treatments of nSe of ۲ mgl−۱ and plasma synergistically improved seedling growth (mean = ۷۸%). The plasma treatments mitigated the nSe۱۰-associated phytotoxicity. The plasma and/or nSe treatments induced the enzyme activities of catalase (mean = ۳۵%) and peroxidase (mean = ۳۰%). In a complementary experiment, the long-time effects of plasma priming were monitored in plants grown under soil condition. The seed priming with cold plasma led to significant increases in shoot fresh mass (mean = ۳۲%) and root biomass (mean = ۲۶.۸%). Moreover, the plasma-primed seedlings produced higher numbers of flowers (mean = ۴۱.۵%) and enhanced flower fresh weights (mean = ۲۴%). The findings underline this hypothesis that exposure to plasma may associate with the activation of plant defense machinery and long-time modification in plant growth and development.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cold Plasma ، Nanoparticle ، Seed priming ، Selenium ، toxicity