Table 1.
Impact of different Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma (CAPP) applications on growth parameters of Zea mays L. cv. Ronaldinio. Grains were pre-treated with different variants of CAPP (C—control/untreated maize grains; O30–O300: grains treated with plasma generated in an oxygen atmosphere for 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 or 300 s; A30–A300: maize grains treated with plasma generated in ambient air for 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 or 300 s; N30–N300: maize grains treated with plasma generated in a nitrogen atmosphere for 30 and 60 s). Values in table represent means of at least 4 independent experiments (one experiment represents 10–20 measurement data) ± SD according to LSD ANOVA test. Different letters indicate significant difference at p < 0.05. Indexes were calculated according to Abdul-Baki and Anderson [56].
| CAPP Application (s) | Germination Potential (%) | Germination Index (%) | Grain Vitality Index (%) | Seedling Vitality Index (%) | Seedling Length Index (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C (0) | 96.9 ± 3.52 f | 10.84 ± 1.64 jk | 158.1 ± 23.9 fgh | 0.34 ± 0.08 ef | 172.8 ± 20.5 ef |
| O30 | 94.0 ± 8.48 f | 8.66 ± 1.88 ghi | 205.4 ± 18.5 i | 0.34 ± 0.09 ef | 189.5 ± 41.2 f |
| O60 | 92.3 ± 6.32 f | 11.66 ± 0.38 k | 124.4 ±2 9.7 cde | 0.29 ± 0.11 def | 154.2 ± 34.9 def |
| O90 | 78.7 ± 12.3 ef | 7.00 ± 0.05 efgh | 152.9 ± 24.0 efgh | 0.27 ± 0.04 cde | 136.0 ± 1.0 cde |
| O120 | 64.2 ± 5.83 de | 7.56 ± 0.79 fgh | 92.3 ± 4.7 bc | 0.23 ± 0.01 bcde | 107.3 ± 11.3 bc |
| O180 | 59.5 ± 7.77 bcde | 7.00 ± 0.35 efgh | 78.5 ± 26.8 b | 0.14 ± 0.03 ab | 98.1 ± 33.5 bc |
| O300 | 58.0 ± 2.82 bcde | 4.83 ± 0.23 bcde | 73.9 ± 21.2 ab | 0.08 ± 0.02 a | 90.8 ± 23.6 bc |
| A30 | 95.0 ± 7.07 f | 8.66 ± 0.47 ghi | 189. 6 ± 14.1 hi | 0.29 ± 0.06 def | 163.8 ± 17.3 ef |
| A60 | 93.0 ± 4.35 f | 10.75 ± 1.75 ijk | 145.6 ± 28.8 ef | 0.31 ± 0.09 def | 182.1 ± 36.0 f |
| A90 | 67.0 ± 4.24 abc | 6.16 ± 1.17 cdef | 139.1 ± 8.8 def | 0.29 ± 0.02 def | 113.3 ± 3.7 bcd |
| A120 | 68.0 ± 2.82 cde | 5.50 ± 0.71 abcd | 96.6 ± 4.1 bcd | 0.22 ± 0.01 bcd | 96.3 ± 5.1 bc |
| A180 | 56.7 ± 14.52 abcd | 4.40 ± 1.12 abc | 94.6 ± 2.3 bc | 0.21 ± 0.07 bcd | 87.0 ± 12.1 ab |
| A300 | 36.2 ± 5.44 ab | 2.91 ± 0.87 ab | 38.0 ± 5.2 a | 0.17 ± 0.01 abc | 49.3 ± 6.9 a |
| N30 | 98.0 ± 2.82 f | 9.00 ± 1.41 hij | 188.0 ± 5.4 ghi | 0.35 ± 0.05 ef | 172.7 ± 27.1 ef |
| N60 | 87.2 ± 6.31 f | 6.66 ± 1.52 defg | 148.4 ± 28.3 efg | 0.39 ± 0.11 f | 182.5 ± 30.2 f |
| N90 | 28.0 ± 0.50 a | 2.33 ± 0.23 a | – | – | – |
| N120 | – | – | – | – | – |
| N180 | – | – | – | – | – |
| N300 | – | – | – | – | – |