Experimental Investigation into the Influence of Plasma Technology on Seed Surface Wettability

The influence of atmospheric plasma discharge (APD) of the Gliding Arc type and low-pressure microwave plasma discharge (LPMD) on the class of various seeds was investigated. Pea, wheat, and sunflower seeds, representing legumes, cereals, and oilseeds, respectively, were selected for the treatment. Our study aimed to verify the effect of plasma treatment on the water contact angle and the wettability of the seeds. Treatment time, working gas flow and microwave power were varied to determine their impact. All treated and untreated variants were used to conduct the water contact angle measurements to compare their wettability. APD treatment seemed to be utterly ineffective for improving the wettability for most process parameters. On the contrary, LPMD manifested a much more efficient impact. The maximum effect was found for the 800 W microwave power applied to the pea seed for 30 s. The contact angle achieved decreased by approximately 50% compared to the untreated sample. These results indicate that LPMD may be an effective alternative to traditional pre-sowing seed treatments used in agriculture for water intake enhancement. Still, it is strongly dependent on the seed’s type and the used process parameters.