Fig 1.
Schematic diagram of multi-capillary air bubble discharge plasma jet with circular magnet submerged in Zn solution.
Table 1.
pH, and the concentrations of ,
,
, and
in distilled water, PPW, plasma processed ZnO, ZnSO4 and their mixture prepared with magnetic field assisted atmospheric pressure multi-tube air bubble underwater discharge plasma jet. 1000 mL distilled water was treated at a time.
Fig 2.
Effects of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on (a) Plant length (cm), (b) Stem diameter (mm) (measured at 35, 70 & 105 DAS), (c) Dry weight (g/plant) and (d) Chlorophyll and carotene concentrations (measured at 75 DAS).
Error bar indicates standard error of the replications and letters represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. Meaning of the horizontal axis: C: control plants; PPW: Plasma Processed Water; ZnOFS: ZnO foliar spray without plasma treatment; ZnOTFS: ZnO foliar spray with plasma treatment; ZnSO4FS: ZnSO4 foliar spray without plasma treatment, ZnSO4TFS: ZnSO4 foliar spray with plasma treatment; (ZnO + ZnSO4)FS: (ZnO + ZnSO4) foliar spray without plasma treatment; (ZnO + ZnSO4)TFS: (ZnO + ZnSO4) foliar spray with plasma treatment.
Fig 3.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on (a) Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) (b) Superoxide dismutase (SOD), (c) Catalase (CAT) (measured at 75 DAS) in leaves and roots of wheat plants.
Error bars indicate the standard error of the replications and letters represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meanings are same as in Fig 2.
Fig 4.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on total phenolic content (TPC) (measured at 75 DAS) in leaves and roots of wheat plants.
Error bars indicate the standard error of the replications and letters represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meanings are same as in Fig 2.
Fig 5.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on (a) soluble sugar (SS) and (b) soluble protein (SP) (measured at 105 DAS) in leaves, roots and grain of wheat plants.
Error bars indicate the standard error of the replications and letters represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meanings are same as in Fig 2.
Fig 6.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 spray on the concentration of Zn and Fe in wheat grains.
Error bars indicate the standard error of the replications and letters represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meaning same as Fig 2.
Fig 7.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on (a) crude lipid (%), (b) crude carbohydrate (%), (c) starch content (%) and (d) total energy (kcal/100g) in wheat grains.
Error bar indicates standard error of the replicates and letter represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meanings are same as in Fig 2.
Fig 8.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on (a) Ash (%), (b) Moisture (%), (c) Fiber content (%) and (d) Crude protein (%) in wheat grains.
Error bar indicates standard error of the replications and letters represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meaning same as Fig 2.
Fig 9.
Effect of plasma processed ZnO and ZnSO4 foliar spray on (a) panicle length (cm) & grain per panicle and (b) 1000-grain weight (g) & yield (MT.ha-1) of wheat.
Error bar indicates standard error of the replications and letter represent statistically significant differences at p ≤ 0.05. X-axis symbols meanings are same as in Fig 2.