In the era of material abundance paradoxically human race faces an energy crisis and a food shortage. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned of a global food crisis as urbanization reduced farmland and food production due to drought flood cold and pest damage caused by weather changes but it is good news that nuclear fusion plasma technology can catch both future clean energy development and food production innovation.

Lately outstanding academic journal in botany field Frontiers in Plant Science announced the research result that nuclear fusion plasma technology improves plant stress in cultivation environments such as insect pests and droughts and helps increase functional components in plants. This thesis was written by Dr. Jong-seok Song from Institute of Plasma Technology in KFE. He received attention from academic circles and industrial circles on last year and selected as an excellent thesis by KFE in 2020.

“I suggested through the thesis that plasma technology can be used for improvement of biological and non-biological stress such as disease drought and salt damage from the sea and also there is an optimal condition for plasma process which is necessary for seed to sprout and grow actively.” 

Dr. Song majored in Crop Life Science in graduate school is an agriculturist researching cultivating and production with plasma technology and functional fabric. The first year in KFE he spent most of this time to understand plasma technology which is completely different from the field of crop cultivating and production that he has been studying. Just like Mark Watney in the movie ‘The Martian’ challenging to grow potatoes in Mars with his knowledge in agriculture and mechanical engineering.

Studying about 100 of research theses around the world related to ‘Application of plasma technology in the field of crops’ was a part of his effort. Dr. Song did not stop just analyzing the theses but considered each research case by dividing (1) Seed scarification (2) Inactivation of seed-borne pathogens) and (3) Enhancement of antioxidant defense systems and discovered plasma technology can be applied in plant stress in cultivation environments.

“The seeds preprocessed with plasma in the form of gas or water have the ability to resist stress environment as if they got vaccinated. For example ozone gas is a source of stress for plant growth but when low concentration of ozone gas is exposed to plant the plant creates immune system against ozone. Plasma also sterilizes microorganism on the surface of the seeds. Furthermore by attacking the surface of the seeds it helps stone seeds to absorb moisture and make sprout easily in the extreme environment such as drought.” 

According to Dr. Song’s explanation plasma is a grateful thing that helps the entire process of germination and growth from sterilization of seeds to activity. Above all the biggest advantage of plasma technology that Dr. Song picked is eco-friendly. Previously various chemicals have been developed in the agricultural and food sectors to help sterilize and activate seeds but chemicals have also threatened the environment and human safety. However plasma technology can produce discharged water that immediately acts as fertilizer in the field with only air water and electricity which are safe for the human body and can also break down the remaining chemical pesticides in agricultural products and agricultural materials.

The reason of his thesis receiving attention is because he suggested electric energy and strength as a standardized plasma process conditions in aspect of usage on plants not only discovering systematically that plasma helps germination and growth of seeds in the perspective of crop science.

“Water is an essential condition for plants to grow but just like oversupply makes roots decayed once external stimulus exceeds the limit of optimal conditions it harms plants. Alike plasma the usage of plasma should be different depend on plants since each plant has different optimal growth conditions such as food crops including rice barley wheat and soybeans horticultural crops such as broccoli and rapeseed and medicinal crops such as ginseng.”

Dr. Song tried to find the optimal conditions for germination and growth of seeds in the aspect of seed sterilization and testa injury. Especially through the immune system that endures stress environment plants produce secondary metabolites which is a functional component that is beneficial to human if you use plasma it helps improve functional component such as ginsenoside which is the main component of sprout ginseng.
