Cold Plasma Technique in Controlling Contamination and Improving the Physiological Processes of Cereal Grains (a Review)

Today, almost half of the total human food, especially in Asia, is directly supplied from grains, and nearly 70% of the cultivated area of the world, which is one billion hectares, is used for growing grains. Therefore, non-destructive methods must be found and developed to increase seed quality in agriculture and industry. Cold plasma is a novel and efficient method that can be used in the agricultural and food sectors for the inactivation of surface microorganisms and the excitation of seeds. This review presents a summary of the effectiveness of cold plasma treatment on the characteristics of four important cereal plants: wheat, rice, corn, and barley. The focus is on the effects of this treatment on seed germination, surface property changes, water uptake of seeds, growth parameters of root, shoot, and seedling length, biomass parameters, and metabolic activities. By examining the research conducted by the researchers, it can be seen that the cereal seeds treated with cold plasma had better germination power, water absorption, shoot length, growth efficiency, shoot and root weight, and metabolic activity. This review can provide insight into the promising trends in utilizing plasma as a method to decrease the prevalence of harmful plant diseases transmitted through seeds and reduce the dormancy of hard seeds.