Plasma seed priming in green cumin: physiological and developmental study

Green cumin is an herbaceous, annual, delicate, and aromatic plant in the family Apiaceae, also known as kammun and senut, which is among the oldest, the most economical, and the most popular medicinal plants. In this study, pretreatment of cumin seeds was studied with plasma technology without using chemicals through damage to seed for germination. To this end, cumin seeds were examined in a control group (no treatment) and treatment with cold plasma for 5 and 10 minutes in other groups. The physiological activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), as well as malondialdehyde (MDA) and soluble sugars were studied in the samples. According to the results, mean growth of seeds in 5 min plasma treatment was higher than the control and 10 min exposure groups. Mean activities of CAT, POX, SOD, and soluble sugars were higher in plants obtained from 5 min plasma irradiation than the control and 10 min plasma treatment. It can be concluded that treatment of cumin seeds with plasma increases SOD and CAT antioxidant enzymes activities. Besides, seed treatment for 5 minutes led to the best results.