A wheat seed is like a traveler sleeping in cold soil: to wake up, it needs a warm rain. Scientists from India have found a way to wake it without chemicals — using cold plasma, the same stuff that glows in neon lamps.
Plasma is a gas in which some atoms have lost electrons. It slightly scratches the seed coat, letting water penetrate faster. In the experiment, five varieties of North Indian wheat were treated with plasma for three minutes or watered with plasma-activated water for fifteen minutes. The seeds swelled more readily, roots and shoots stretched out more vigorously, and the ears of wheat became longer and heavier.
The best results came from combining a short plasma treatment with watering using activated water. Different varieties responded differently, but the overall conclusion is the same: plasma helps wheat rise from the soil more vigorously and produce more bread.
Plasma treatment makes the seed surface more 'wettable': a drop of water spreads across it instead of beading up.