seed priming with cold plasma improved early growth, flowering, and protection of cichorium intybus against selenium nanoparticle

Plasma as a rapidly evolving technology has been succeeded to widely exploit in various industrial fields. we attempt to address the short- and long-time effects of seed priming with cold plasma in cichorium intybus. the seeds were subjected to plasma (dielectric barrier discharge). the post-reactions of the plasma-primed seedlings were monitored in response to different concentrations (0, 2, and 10 mgl−1) of selenium nanoparticle (nse). the plasma treatments enhanced seedling early growth in both shoot and roots. besides, the simultaneous treatments of nse of 2 mgl−1 and plasma synergistically improved seedling growth (mean = 78%). the plasma treatments mitigated the nse10-associated phytotoxicity. the plasma and/or nse treatments induced the enzyme activities of catalase (mean = 35%) and peroxidase (mean = 30%). in a complementary experiment, the long-time effects of plasma priming were monitored in plants grown under soil condition. the seed priming with cold plasma led to significant increases in shoot fresh mass (mean = 32%) and root biomass (mean = 26.8%). moreover, the plasma-primed seedlings produced higher numbers of flowers (mean = 41.5%) and enhanced flower fresh weights (mean = 24%). the findings underline this hypothesis that exposure to plasma associate with the activation of plant defense machinery and long-time modification in plant growth and development.