this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2025
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Anyone has an idea why this is supposed to work? Seems a bit like pseudo-science to me, but I don't know the details.
I think it comes down to
Bayati et al. 2024: 10.1111/1541-4337.13376
But they also point out issues for food safety and altering of taste and color if applied to food.
You can't conclude anything from this video. The variability in his results are much larger than the differences between groups with the exception being that it looks like he nearly killed the seeds in the 120s group. He also didn't track much beyond germination. A 12hr shorter germination isn't likely to have much significance in real world yield. His grandiose conclusions assume that accelerated growth rates would perisist, but he didn't provide evidence of that.
My guess is that there is a short term boost to germination rate, but no long term growth rate difference.
Cold plasma is not psuedoscience though. There have been very interesting results in cold plasma accelerating wound healing. The mechanisms aren't well known, but seem likely atributable to the in situ production of short lived reactive species such as H2O2.
I would not be surprised if treating seeds partially breaks down the outer layers and increases water permeability allowing faster germination. Mechanical abrasion can be used to accelerate germination in some seeds. If that is the mechanism, then you would only want to treat seeds immediately before planting, as you would be compromising the ability for the seeds to regulate internal moisture levels.