The effect of high voltage electrical discharge (HVED) treatment on small seed plants

Lea Lojková¹, Sanja Zec Zrinušić², Helena Pluháčková¹, Radim Cerkal¹,Tihana Marček²*

¹Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of AgriSciences, Zemědělská 1665/1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
²Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Food Technology, Franje Kuhača 18, 31000 Osijek

ARTICLE INFO	ABSTRACT
TYPE: Original scientific paper https://doi.org/10.17508/CJFST.2024.16.1.04 PDF	The High Voltage Electrical Discharge (HVED) is a physical hydropriming method which alters the physicochemical properties of water, creating the plasma activated water (PAW). The mixture of highly reactive ions and molecules can break down the seed dormancy and speed up the growing process. Previous studies presented the promotional role of HVED technology on the germination, growth and polyphenol content. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of HVED technology on germination ability and vitality of three types of seeds with low germination rate. Selected species included carrot (Daucus carota L.), melilot (Melilotus albus Medik.), and mallow (Malva verticillata L.). In carrot and mallow, HVED (20Hz/30s) significantly promoted germination percentage, whilst in melilot seeds, germination was unchanged. HVED treatment enhanced the growth of shoots and roots in both carrot and mallow. In melilot, shorter treatment time of exposure to high voltage (30Hz/10s) resulted in longer shoots and roots. Perspectives of HVED as a method for improvement of germination exist, especially in mellow and carrot, but it is necessary to optimize the process parameters for each type of seed separately.
*CORRESPONDENCE Tihana Marček tihana.marcek@ptfos.hr
ARTICLE HISTORY Received: November 7, 2023 Accepted: December 6, 2023
CITATION Lojková L, Zec Zrinušić S, Pluháčková H, Cerkal R, Marček T. The effect of high voltage electrical discharge (HVED) treatment on small seed plants. Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology (2024) 16 (1) xx-xx
COPYRIGHT: © 2024 by the author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
	KEYWORDS carrot; melilot; mallow; germination; high voltage electrical discharge
	KEY CONTRIBUTION High voltage electrical discharge (HVED) treatment improved germination of mallow and carrot seeds and increased the growth rate of shoots and roots in all three small seed species. Applied technology could be useful in the promotion of the germination potential of seeds with low germination rate.