Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Jazan University, Jazan, 45142, Saudi Arabia.
Centre for Environmental Research & Studies, Jazan University, Jazan, 45142, Saudi Arabia.
Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 14;10(1):2667. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-59097-x.
Winter dormancy of temperate zone perennial plant species is commonly released by chilling temperature. If the duration of the cold weather is not adequate, plant growth becomes disorganized leading to reduced growth, spread out flowering and fruit maturation and often reduced yield. In mild-winter regions, growers commonly resort to spraying their trees with chemicals such as hydrogen cyanamide to compensate for the lack of chilling to ensure good growth and yield. Although effective, most of these chemicals are highly toxic; unfortunately, there is no effective and environmentally friendly alternative which can be used to release dormancy. In this work, we present a cold plasma treatment-based method which can effectively release the dormancy of grape buds. We have found that exposing grape buds to plasma provides improvement of several growth parameters including higher, faster and more synchronous budbreak and more vigorous vegetative growth, comparatively similar to or better than natural chilling. Biochemical analyses of bud tissue suggest that the plasma treatment triggered a marked transient oxidative stress as indicated by the increase in the concentrations of free proline, malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (HO). Proline appears to have played a key role; as a compatible osmolyte, it may have protected cellular structures against free radicals and as a signaling molecule, it may have induced the events leading to dormancy release. We anticipate that our work will provide a starting point for the development of novel plasma-based tools and methods to treat dormant plants. The plasma treatment method may allow higher agricultural production in several regions of the world at risk of becoming marginal for the cultivation of certain crops due to global warming.
温带多年生植物物种的冬季休眠通常是由寒冷温度解除的。如果寒冷天气的持续时间不足，植物生长会变得无序，导致生长不良、花期延长、果实成熟和产量降低。在冬季温和的地区，种植者通常会喷洒化学物质，如氰化氢，以弥补缺乏寒冷，确保良好的生长和产量。虽然这些化学物质很有效，但大多数都是剧毒的；不幸的是，没有有效的环保替代品可以用来解除休眠。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种基于冷等离子体处理的方法，可以有效地解除葡萄芽的休眠。我们发现，暴露在等离子体中的葡萄芽可以改善几个生长参数，包括更高、更快和更同步的芽萌发以及更旺盛的营养生长，与自然寒冷相当或更好。芽组织的生化分析表明，等离子体处理引发了明显的短暂氧化应激，表现为游离脯氨酸、丙二醛（MDA）和过氧化氢（HO）浓度的增加。脯氨酸似乎起到了关键作用；作为一种相容性渗透调节剂，它可能保护细胞结构免受自由基的侵害，作为一种信号分子，它可能诱导休眠解除的事件。我们预计，我们的工作将为开发新型基于等离子体的工具和方法来处理休眠植物提供一个起点。由于全球变暖，世界上一些地区可能会因某些作物的种植而变得边缘化，等离子体处理方法可能会提高这些地区的农业产量。
