Aging treated water three days makes pea microgreens grow better
Saha S, Di Gioia F
Crop Improvement
If you grow microgreens on a windowsill, this shows that how you prep your water, not just what's in it, can swing your harvest weight by nearly 20% and pack in more antioxidants.
Scientists ran electricity through air and water to create 'plasma-activated water,' which is loaded with reactive molecules that can act like a mild fertilizer. When they used this water right away, only moderate doses helped the pea microgreens, and the strongest dose actually held back growth. But when they let the treated water sit for three days before using it, every batch grew better plants with more calcium, magnesium, and healthy plant pigments than plain tap water.
Key Findings
Freshly applied plasma-activated water at moderate activation times (30-90 min) increased fresh yield and dry biomass by 5-13%, while 120-min activation reduced yield despite improving water use efficiency.
After 72 hours of storage, all plasma-activated water treatments outperformed tap water, with 60-minute activation producing the biggest biomass gain (+19.7%) and best water use efficiency improvement (+21.5%).
Storage shifted the water's chemistry from short-lived reactive oxygen species toward accumulated nitrates, which boosted calcium and magnesium uptake and increased carotenoids, phenolics, and flavonoids in the microgreens.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Zapping water with plasma before watering pea microgreens can boost their growth and nutrient content, but the trick is letting that treated water sit for three days first. Fresh plasma water in high doses actually stunted the plants, while aged plasma water consistently improved yield, calcium, magnesium, and antioxidant levels.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Plasma-activated water processing and storage time impacts pea microgreens yield and quality.
Plasma-activated water (PAW) is emerging as a sustainable input capable of enhancing crop yield and quality while reducing dependence on synthetic fertilizers. However, how PAW chemistry evolves du...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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