A group led by researchers at Nagoya University and Meijo University in Japan has developed a disinfection technology that uses low-temperature plasma generated by electricity to cultivate environmentally friendly hydroponically grown crops. This innovative technology sterilizes the crops, promoting plant growth without the use of chemical fertilizers. Their findings appeared in Environmental Technology & Innovations.
In hydroponic agriculture, farmers cultivate plants by providing their roots with a nutrient solution. However, the nutrient solution can become infected with pathogenic E. coli strains, contaminating the crop and leading to foodborne illnesses.
To avoid this problem, farmers use chemical treatment to sterilize the nutrient solution before and during cultivation. In this process, the nutrient solution is replaced. Unfortunately, this can harm the environment because the chemicals can contaminate water and produce greenhouse gas emissions in their production process.
"Our results suggest a completely new way of disinfecting," author Professor Masafumi Ito of Meijo University said. "Our technology can potentially reduce the production of pesticides that use fossil fuels, pollution of the environment, and residuals." Instead of agrochemicals, the team's technique performed sterilization using plasma. Plasma is gas with small electric charges, known as ions and electrons, and electrically neutral reactive particles in it. The team created the low-temperature plasma using a plasma generator.
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