The Study of Plasma Activated Water Treatment for Microorganism in Soil

Abstract

In order to grow and develop, plants need food, just like all other living
things. Plants require sixteen essential elements. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are
all found in the atmosphere and in soil water. The remaining 13 elements which are
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, zinc, manganese,
copper, boron, molybdenum, and chlorine are either supplied by soil minerals and soil
organic matter or by organic or inorganic fertilizers. Thus, to increase the quality and
growth rate of crops, farmers will use fertilizers. However, the usage of excess
fertilizers lead to soil pollution and water pollution due to leaching of chemicals. With
the usage of Plasma Activated Water (PAW), nutrients can be supplied to crops more
organically and produce much less harm. PAW is also a good medium to stimulate
the growth of nitrogen fixation bacteria, nitrobacter, which is important in supplying
continuous dissolved nitrogen to plants. PAW contain various gaseous reactive
species like OH, H2O2, NO and HNO as the result of plasma contact with the water
surface. This study is being carried out by treating different distilled water samples
with different times of plasma treatment to find the optimal time of treatment. The
treated water is then poured to microorganisms in soil to check whether it can
stimulate the growth of microorganisms that boost plant growth. The significance of
this study is to increase the nutrient quality of the soils without using any chemicals
such as fertilizer as well to improve the nitrogen fixation process for plants. To
summarize, the plasma treated water contains a high amount of N=O bond which also
shows the presence of nitrite ion and the plasma treated water also enhances the
growth of microorganism in soil. Therefore, this study is successful since the relation
with objectives is met