OUR VISION
Our vision at Plantzma is to create a world where vulnerable communities are not affected by crop loss which is leading to economic crisis, food crisis, lack of access to affordable food ,and many problems. We are committed to implementing sustainable agricultural solutions such as plasma technology that increases crop yield by reducing biotic and abiotic stress of plants. By combining advanced technology, easy-to-use mechanism, scientific research, and optimized agricultural practices, we strive to create a future where safe, healthy, and affordable food is accessible for every community. Our vision is rooted in the belief that collaborative efforts and using technology to mitigate the affects of climate change will lead us to a better future.
OUR MISSION
Our mission at Plantzma is to combat food crisis by addressing the plant stress that contribute to crop failure. We are committed to mitigate the effects of pollution, drought, salinity, and declining soil productivity. Our goal is to implement a sustainable solution that ensure the safe, healthy, and affordable food are accessible for everyone. For this mission, we use a advanced technology, scientific research, and optimized agricultural practices to mitigate these world’s pressing issues. Our mission is to implement eco-friendly and cost-effective methods to prevent crop failures to make a positive impact on the global food system. We believe that collaborating with organizations and agricultural communities is the key factor to achieve our mission.
THE PROJECT
The Mesopotamian lands, where civilization began and agriculture was first developed, are currently facing climate change. In the last two years, drought has caused the Tigris River to dry up, resulting in a significant loss of yield. In response to this, we designed a project to help many communities by using science and technology.
Low-temperature plasma, also known as non-thermal plasma or cold atmospheric plasma, has become increasingly popular in biology due to its wide range of applications, including seed germination. In this project, I designed a system that reduces the stress levels of plants and allows them to grow more efficiently in a shorter time.
This system works by ionizing atmospheric air with discharge systems. The system has two parts: direct treatment and indirect treatment. The direct treatment part involves pre-planting operations, where the seed is placed in a container and atmospheric air is ionized by discharge to create a plasma effect. This allows seeds to germinate faster and increases their productivity. The indirect treatment part involves post-plantation procedures, where plasma is treated with water to create environmentally friendly fertilizer enriched with nitrogen. This helps increase plant productivity. The system includes an application that guides farmers from pre-planting to post-planting, aiming to prevent yield loss. Overall, this nature-friendly system is designed to benefit the community by using science and technology to combat the effects of climate change on agriculture.
In direct plasma treatment, the seeds are exposed to plasma generated by a generator and electrode in a container module. The parameters in the system are gliding arc, 10 kV power supply, and atmospheric gas. The system ionizes the atmosphere by carrying it from the electromagnetic air pump to the discharge area through pipes. The reactor on the top of the container ionizes the air to treat the seeds inside. Farmers using the direct plasma system can simply place their seeds into the container, operate the system for about 10 minutes, and then their seeds will be ready for planting once removed from the container. This process creates nano cracks on the seed surface, allowing plants to germinate faster.
The seeds in the discharge area are affected by charged particles, reactive species (like OH radicals, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide), electric fields, and photons (visible/ultraviolet (UV) radiation). These components promote seed germination and growth.
During exposure, the seed surface interacts with short-lived and long-lived radicals generated by secondary reactions. The direct treatment of seeds with plasma changes the shape of the seed coat resulting in the induction of seed germination, reduced germination time, improved disease resistance, and rapid growth and development.
The seeds are primarily influenced by Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species during the direct plasma process. Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species causes an increase in carbohydrate metabolism, enzyme and antioxidant metabolism. As a result of direct treatment, it improves shoot length, pathogen resistance, secondary metabolites, enzyme activity, root length and root branches.
In the other part of the system, indirect treatment aims to treat irrigation water with plasma after treating the seeds with direct treatment. In indirect treatment, the sample is not exposed to the plasma itself but a gas-phase active species generated by the plasma and plasma activated water affect the sample. A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is an electrical discharge that occurs between two electrodes, which are separated by a dielectric barrier. I used glass as the dielectric material in this case. The dielectric material plays a crucial roleas it prevents continuous electrical discharge by acting as a barrier during part of the alternating current cycle.
The system, which ionizes the atmospheric air with a dielectric barrier discharge, draws irrigation water with a water pump through the blue pipe and transfers the water to the gas-water mixing unit. In this way, ionized atmospheric air and water are mixed homogeneously in the gas-water mixing unit. The physicochemical properties of water change due to indirect treatment.
Plasma-treated water changes the physicochemical properties and participates in the signaling pathway, ultimately promoting seed germination, root and vegetative growth, and plant reproduction. Plasma activated water has been found to change the electrical conductivity, pH, and concentration of nitrate (NO3−), nitrite (NO2−), ozone (O3), and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under atmospheric conditions.
These changes in physicochemical properties and components mainly contribute to the benefits of plasma treatment for seed germination and plant growth. The indirect treatment inhibits microorganisms due to an increase in acidity and the reactive oxygen and nitrogen species content with the duration of plasma treatment.
The high nitrate and nitrite content in plasma-activated water acts as a substitute for nitrogen sources, which is called “plasma fertilizer”. Therefore, indirect treatment also acts as a cost-effective and eco-friendly fertilizer which decreases the reliance on chemical fertilizers.
In the general of the system, we used an STM32 as a microcontroller card to ensure the power and control of the system.
The goals of these project are to show that science can be a solution to problems in traditional agriculture, reduce food crises by preventing crop loss, mitigate the environmental damage caused by the nitrogen cycle by reducing reliance on artificial fertilizers, and address the social and economic issues faced by our community.
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