Plasma agriculture for pesticide reduction

我们建议在田间研究促进植物生长和保护作物产量的最佳等离子体条件，作为一种简单而有效的提高粮食生产（从而提高粮食安全）同时减少农药需求的方法。等离子体在延长包装食品保质期方面的有效性已经由该提案的商业合作伙伴（格拉斯哥大学的副产品）证明。有令人信服的证据表明，等离子体处理在作物生长周期本身具有额外的有效性，而不仅仅是在保持最终收成方面。在播种前对种子进行等离子体处理（直接和间接）可以促进种子早期发芽，诱导比未处理的种子更快的早期叶覆盖。这是因为等离子体本身，连同它产生的空气化学变化，促使坚硬的保护性种子保护膜分裂，同时减少了可能位于保护膜上或下面的竞争生物（细菌和真菌）；此外，等离子体有可能通过局部固定氮，为发育中的植物产生微量的营养。最终的结果是，幼苗比正常情况下更早地产生叶片覆盖，剥夺了同处位置的竞争杂草种子的光照，从而减少了对农药的需求。随着植物的发育和结果，成虫的攻击是一个持续的威胁，有时会破坏整个收成：亚洲果蝇（D suzuki）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，铃木蝇攻击完整的、未受损的水果，产卵，然后破坏收成。产生臭氧的冷等离子体可以在受控的实验室环境中杀死这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地杀死幼虫；即使是昆虫也需要呼吸氧气，而臭氧会损害呼吸系统。我们建议在更现实的环境中探索可以有效根除这些害虫的等离子体条件范围，并且由于臭氧是由周围空气产生的，并且只是短暂稳定的，因此不需要将外部农药化学物质输送到现场，也没有任何残留。这种有效的农药处理只需要等离子体电极系统和一个电力来源（可以由太阳能或风能提供），因此被广泛应用——包括可能需要自给自足作物产量的行星太空任务。

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.