Rice plant growth and yield: foliar application of plasma activated water

Abstract

Plasma activated water (PAW) was prepared for 10 min to be applied one to five times as a foliar spray to rice plants, to investigate plant growth, yield and the concentrations of total soluble protein and sugar in the rice grains produced. The results reveal that (1) the plant height, stem diameter, dry weight, chlorophyll and total carotene concentrations were improved by ∼15%, ∼25%, ∼24%, ∼47% and ∼45%, respectively, with respect to control, (2) defense mechanisms of the plants treated with PAW were improved, (3) concentrations of total soluble protein and sugar were enhanced in the rice grains of PAW treated plants and (4) yield was increased by ∼14%.