Plasma agriculture for pesticide reduction

我们建议研究促进植物生长和保护作物产量的最佳等离子体条件，作为一种简单但有效的方法，提高粮食生产（从而提高粮食安全），同时减少对农药的需求。等离子体在延长包装食品保质期方面的有效性已经在本提案中的商业合作伙伴（格拉斯哥大学的一个分支机构）中得到了证明。有令人信服的证据表明，等离子体处理可以在作物生长周期本身中产生额外的效果，而不仅仅是保护最终的收获。在种植前对种子进行等离子体处理（直接和间接）可以促进早期发芽，诱导比未经处理的种子更快的早期叶覆盖。这是因为等离子体本身及其产生的改变的空气化学物质，促使坚硬的保护性种子涂层分裂，同时减少可能位于涂层上或涂层下的竞争生物（细菌和真菌）;此外，等离子体具有通过局部固定氮为发育中的植物产生微量营养的潜力。最终的结果是幼苗比正常情况下更早地产生叶子覆盖，剥夺了共同定位的竞争对手杂草种子的光照，从而减少了对杀虫剂的需求。随着植物生长并开始结果，成年昆虫攻击的可能性是一个持续的威胁，有时会破坏整个收成：亚洲果蝇（D suzukii）是美国和南欧水果作物的主要威胁，并开始在英国站稳脚跟。与传统的果蝇（D melanogaster）不同，Suzukii攻击整个未受损的水果，产卵，然后破坏收获。冷等离子体产生的臭氧可以在受控的实验室环境中杀死两种类型的成年果蝇，并且在相同的环境中也被证明可以成功杀死幼虫;即使是昆虫也必须呼吸氧气，臭氧会损害呼吸系统。我们建议探索在更现实的环境中可以有效消除此类害虫的等离子体条件范围，并且由于臭氧是从环境空气中产生的，并且只是暂时稳定的，因此不需要将外部农药化学品输送到现场，也没有任何残留物。这种有效的农药处理只需要等离子体电极系统和一个电源，可以由太阳能或风能提供，因此适用范围很广-包括可能需要自我维持作物产量的行星空间任务。

We propose to investigate the optimum plasma conditions for boosting plant growth and protecting crop yield in the field, as a simple but effective method of enhancing food production (and therefore food security) whilst reducing the requirement for pesticides.The effectiveness of plasmas in extending the shelf-life of packaged food has already been demonstrated by the commercial partner in this proposal (a spin-out of the University of Glasgow). There is compelling evidence that plasma treatments can have additional effectiveness in the crop growth cycle itself, not just in preserving the eventual harvest. Plasma treatment (direct and indirect) of seeds prior to planting can encourage early germination, inducing faster early leaf cover than non-treated seeds. This is because the plasma itself, together with the altered air chemistry produced by it, encourages the hard, protective seed coating to split, and simultaneously reduces competing organisms (bacteria and fungi) that may be located on or under that coating; additionally, the plasma has potential to generate micro-doses of nutrient for the developing plant by fixing the nitrogen locally. The end result is a seedling which produces leaf cover earlier than normal, depriving co-located competitor weed seeds of light, and so reducing the need for pesticides. As the plant develops and begins to fruit, the possibility of attack from adult insects is a continuous threat, sometimes devastating whole harvests: the Asian fruit fly (D suzukii) is a major threat to fruit crops across the US and southern Europe, and is beginning to gain a foothold in the UK. Unlike the traditional fruit-fly (D melanogaster), suzukii attacks whole, undamaged fruit, laying eggs which then destroy the the harvest. Cold plasmas generating ozone can kill adult fruit-flies of both types in a controlled laboratory setting, and has also been shown to be successful in killing larvae in the same context; even insects have to breath oxygen, and ozone damages the respiratory system. We proposed to explore the range of plasma conditions that can be effective in eradicating such pests in a more realistic environment, and because the ozone is generated from the ambient air, and is only transiently stable, there are no external pesticide chemicals required to be delivered to the site, nor is there any residue. This effective pesticidal treatment needs only the plasma electrode system and a source of electricity, which could be provided by solar or wind-power, and is therefore widely applicable - including potentially planetary space missions that need self-sustaining crop yields.