Destroying bacteria with the help of plasma, and thus protecting ornamental and farming plants from disease, is the idea of the researches from the Department of Plant Protection and Biotechnology at the Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology (MWB) UG and MUG and the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Metallurgy of the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology Faculty of Chemical Metallurgy that has been awarded in the “Eureka! DGP – discovering Polish inventions” competition organized by Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Multiple universities, PAN science units and research institutes took part in the 7th edition of the “Eureka! DGP – discovering Polish inventions” by presenting inventions to the Patent Office in 2017 and 2018; distinguished among them was “The method of eradication of bacterial phytopathogens”.
This method is a response to the losses experienced by the agriculture and horticulture sectors resulting from the occurrence of disease-inducing bacteria on plants. By limiting the number of infections, the invention can contribute to increasing the food supply for the ever growing human population.
A group of researchers has developed a plasma-activated solution that protects plants by destroying pathogenic bacteria. The invention presents the use of glow discharge generated at atmospheric pressure in contact with liquid (a type of non-thermal atmospheric plasma). Plasma as an ionized gas has unique properties, mainly due to it being a source of reactive oxygen and nitrogen. Thanks to the option of choosing the type of plasma (which involves the need to develop flow-response discharge systems for its controlled generation), as well as the properties of the plasma, it is possible to later control its applications.
The "active post-plasma solution" obtained this way can be applied to plants in the form of spraying, fogging or irrigation.
The team leader on the University of Gdansk side is prof. dr hab. Ewa Lojkowska and from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology: prof. dr hab eng. Pawel Pohl. The team also includes: dr. eng Wojciech Sledz (UG), dr Agata Motyka-Pomagruk (UG), mgr Weronika Babinska (UG), dr hab. Eng Piotr Jamroz, a PWr prof. and dr eng Anna Dzimitrowicz (PWr).
Translation: Adam Myzyk
