Plasma Activated Water (PAW) can be used to clean seeds from pathogens by only using air, water, and electricity. Together with 14 different well-known seed producers, VitalFluid has been testing over 40 different seed pathogen combinations. The results are looking promising.
Seed producers send batches of seeds contaminated with fungi, bacteria, and viruses to VitalFluid. At VitalFluid, the seeds are treated with different concentrations of Plasma Activated Water and different incubation times. Seed specialist Ineke Wijkamp and microbiologist Danique van der Krieken conducted the treatments. After treatment, the seeds were sent back to the producers to test them on germination and seed health.
One of the tests was on flower seeds contaminated with general fungi. The treatment of PAW showed a significant reduction of the fungi on the seeds. Compared to the control and current chlorine treatment, the Plasma Activated Water treatment was performing much better. In the attached graphs, you can see that germination increases a lot by treating the contaminated seeds with PAW. Also, you can see the PAW treatment is significantly reducing the fungal presence. The test also showed a decrease in abnormalities and a decrease in not germinated seeds.
This customer is convinced that using PAW to clean his seeds is the standard treatment because it is performing better, and there is no need for chemicals. VitalFluid will also show the upcoming results of other tests.
There are several ways to treat seeds with Plasma Activated Water. Seeds can be soaked in water, or the seeds can be sprayed or steamed. In this way, upscaling the technology is easy, and the seeds are less infected by the water. To do this VitalFluid partnered up with Petkus Selecta, which is a leading company in seed technology.
For more information:
VitalFluid
High Tech Campus 25-5
5656 AE, Eindhoven
Tel.: +31 (0)85 0603 025
info@vitalfluid.nl
www.vitalfluid.nl