Table 2.

The application of plasma in food and agriculture.

NTP Type	Process Gas	Time of Treatment	Treated Sample	Fungus/Yeast	Effect	Ref.
DBD plasma	Air	0–9 min	Mango	Colletotrichum asianum	The disease incidence and lesion diameter of mango treated for 9 min were decreased by 48.00% and 62.95%, respectively	[123]
Plasma jet	Argon, oxygen, nitrogen	0–6 min	Mung bean	Natural fungal contamination	Reduction in natural fungal contamination ranging from 0.54 to 7.09 log at 96 h incubation	[124]
Gliding arc plasma	Nitrogen	300–600 s	Tomato juice	Candida albicans Saccharomyces cerevisiae	600 s treatment—reduction in fungal viability below the limit of quantification; extension of shelf life to 10 days	[113]
PAW	Air	30–120 s	Kimchi cabbage	Natural fungal contamination	PAW treated with plasma for 120s caused a 1.8 log CFU/g reduction in fungal contamination	[125]
RF cold plasma	Oxygen	0–15 min	Saffron	Aspergillus sp. Penicillium sp. Rhizopus sp.	Complete reduction in contamination after 15 min of treatment	[126]
Microwave plasma	Helium	40 min	Onion powder	Aspergillus brasiliensis	1.6 log spores/cm2 reduction	[127]
Flexible thin-layer plasma	Air	10 min	Beef jerky packaged	Aspergillus flavus	2–3 log CFU/g reduction in spore viability	[106]
DBD plasma	Air	0–5 min	Citrus	Penicillium venetum Aspergillus brasiliensis	Significantly decreased to ~1.50 log CFU/mL at 2 min; significantly decreased viable count to ~1.62 log CFU/mL at 5 min	[128]
DBSD plasma	Air	0–20 min	Blueberry	Botrytis cinerea	15 and 20 min plasma treatment completely inhibited the mycelial growth	[115]
Microwave plasma	Air	15–60 s	Allspice berry Black pepper Juniper berry	Aspergillus niger	Partial inactivation after 15 s treatment	[129]
Gliding arc plasma	Humid argon	0–7 min	Mango	Colletotrichum gloeosporioides	Significantly lower mycelium growth rate constant, the maximum reduction in spores was 1 log spore/mL after 7 min of NTP treatment with 5 L/min gas flux	[130]
PAW with the plasma jet	Air	0–30 min	Mung bean sprout	Natural yeast contamination	~2.8 log CFU/g yeasts reduction after 30 min	[118]
Plasma jet	Air	0–90 s	Paprika	Fusarium oxysporum	Complete inhibition of mycelial growth and spore germination after 90 s of treatment but only 50% inhibition of fungal growth on the paprika surface	[117]
AP plasma jet; LP RF plasma	Air, nitrogen, Oxygen	0–30 min	Hazelnut	Aspergillus flavus Aspergillus parasiticus	Spore reductions of 4.7 and 5.6 log CFU/g after 30 min of LP air plasma treatment; spore reductions of 5.4 and 5.5 log CFU/g after 1.7 min of AP air plasma treatment; deformation of spores and loss of spore integrity after plasma treatments	[131]
DBD plasma	Air	0–10 min	Blueberry	natural fungal contamination	The number of fungi decreased by 25.8%; the blueberry decay rates were reduced by 5.2% in the plasma treatment of 10 min after 20 days of storage	[132]
CD plasma jet	Air	0–120 s	Kumquat	natural yeasts contamination	0.77–1.57 log CFU/g reduction after 120 s treatment	[116]
Fluidized bed plasma	Air, nitrogen	0–5 min	Hazelnuts	Aspergillus flavus Aspergillus parasiticus	~4 log fungicidal effects after 5 min; the air plasma was more effective than nitrogen plasma	[133]
Surface barrier discharge	Air	0–8 min	Corn kernels	-	Complete degradation of aflatoxin B1 after 6 min of treatment	[134]
DBD plasma	Air	0–180 s	Pistachio nuts, glass slides	Aspergillus flavus	Decrease in spore population by 4 log after 180 s of the treatment; maximum reduction in AFB1 was observed after 180 s of the treatment, which was 64.63% for glass slides and 52.42% for pistachio nuts	[135]
CD plasma jet	Air	0–30 min	Rice, Wheat	-	Initial AFB1 concentration on slides was decreased maximally by 95% in 30 min; in rice and wheat, the average levels of AFB1 degradation ranged between 45 and 56% following 30 min treatment	[136]
AP plasma jet; LP RF plasma	Air	0–30 min	Hazelnuts	-	Both plasmas reduced 72–73% of AFB1 spiked on hazelnuts after plasma treatment	[137]
RF plasma	air with H2O2 (35%)	0–10 min	Cannabis inflorescences	Botrytis cinerea	5 log reduction in viable fungal spores after 10 min	[138]
DBD plasma	Argon or a mixture of 80% argon and 20% oxygen	10 min	Ginseng seeds	natural fungal contamination from the surface of seeds	~73% (Ar) and 60% (Ar/O2) inactivation of fungal spores	[139]
DBSD plasma	Air	0–60 s	Scot pine seeds	Fusarium oxysporum	100% disinfection efficiency of seeds after 30 s treatment	[140]
DCSBD plasma	Air	0–10 min	Lentil seeds	Aspergillus niger Penicillium decumbens	Maximum logarithmic reduction of 1.6 log CFU/g for A. niger and 3.1 log CFU/g for P. decumbens after 10 min	[141]
DBD plasma	Nitrogen, Oxygen	1–3 min	Soybean seeds	Diaporthe/Phomopsis complex	Reduction in infection by about 49–81%	[142]
DBD plasma	Air	5, 20 min	Barley and wheat seeds	Penicillium verrucosum	Maximal reduction of 2.1 log CFU/g for barley and 2.5 log CFU/g for wheat	[67]
DCSBD plasma	Air	0–50 s	Cucumber and pepper seeds	Cladosporium cucumerinum Didymella bryoniae Didymella licopersici	Total reduction in C. cucumerinum and 60–80% reduction in D. bryoniae on cucumber seeds after 20 s; 50–80% reduction in D. licopersici on pepper seeds	[143]
DCSBD plasma	Air	0–300 s	Maize	Alternaria alternata Aspergillus flavus Fusarium culmorum	Reduction of 3.79 log CFU/g in F. culmorum after 60 s plasma treatment, 4.21 log CFU/g in A. flavus, and 3.22 log CFU/g in A. alternata after a 300 s plasma treatment	[66]
DBSD plasma	Air	0–300 s	Sweet basil seeds	natural fungal contamination	~30% reduction of natural fungal contamination after 300 s	[144]
Plasma jet	Humid air	10 min	Rice seeds	Fusarium fujikuroi	Bakanae disease severity index and the percentage of plants with symptoms were reduced to 18.1% and 7.8% of nonirradiated control, respectively, after 10 min treatment of seeds in water	[145]
RF plane-type plasma	Air	0–30 min	Groundnuts	Aspergillus flavus Aspergillus parasiticus	High percentage of inactivation, 99.9% and 99.5% of A. parasiticus and A. flavus, respectively	[146]
CD plasma jet	Air	0–3 min	Broccoli seeds	natural fungal contamination	1.5 log CFU/g reduction in natural fungal contamination after 3 min	[147]

AP, atmospheric pressure; CD, corona discharge; DBD, dielectric barrier discharge; DBSD, dielectric barrier surface discharge; DCSBD, diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge; LP, low pressure; PAW, plasma-activated water; RF, radiofrequency.