Crop Spotlight: Chard

Chard, species name Beta vulgaris is a green leafy vegetable. Chard is from the same family as beetroot and sugar beet, but has been bred to concentrate more of its growing energy into larger stalks and leaves instead of the roots, as is the case for beetroots. Zayndu’s ActivatedAir™ is highly beneficial for germination, soil…

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Chard, species name Beta vulgaris is a green leafy vegetable. Chard is from the same family as beetroot and sugar beet, but has been bred to concentrate more of its growing energy into larger stalks and leaves instead of the roots, as is the case for beetroots.

Zayndu’s ActivatedAir™ is highly beneficial for germination, soil growth, root growth, and also yield. Our customers are seeing these results every day, so we thought we’d do our own trials to demonstrate the impact of our technology.

Germination

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100 seeds per treatment were placed into cellulose pleated sheets for germination testing following ISTA standards, with germination rates being monitored daily. An immediate boost to germination was witnessed from Day 1 to Day 5, with a 132% increase in germination of seeds treated with ‘ActivatedAir™’ compared to untreated seeds on Day 3, and an overall 9% increase in overall germination at the end of the experiment on Day 8.

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Figure 1. Germination Rates (above) and Initial Seedling Development (middle and below) of Swiss Chard. Swiss Chard was treated with ActivatedAir™ and germination was monitored thereafter.

The picture seen above is a side-by-side comparison on Day 6 after planting; untreated seedlings are on the left, and those treated with ActivatedAir™ on the right. Treated seeds gave rise to more synchronised seedlings, with more having emerged from the pleated sheets.

Root Growth

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Zayndu
Zayndu
Figure 2. Root Growth Analysis of Treated and Untreated Swiss Chard. Swiss Chard was treated with ActivatedAir™ and root growth of subsequent seeds were monitored afterwards using 1/2MS agar plates. Above is the average fresh weight of individual seedlings after they were extracted at the end of the experiment. Central is the average root lengths of the untreated and treated seedlings at the end of the experiment. Below is a picture of the 3 largest seedlings of the untreated sample on the left compared to the 3 largest seedlings of those treated with ActivatedAir™ on the right.

Chard seeds were treated using Zayndu’s chard ActivatedAir™ treatment before 20 samples of each were placed onto 1/2MS agar plates to monitor subsequent root growth. The ‘harvest’ data shown above indicates that the seedlings removed from the plates at the end of the experiment had their fresh weights measured; seedlings that received ActivatedAir™ had an average fresh weight that was 39% higher. Additionally, on the harvest date, the ActivatedAir™-treated displayed an average root length that was 13% longer compared to seedlings from untreated seeds.

Soil Growing/Yield

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Zayndu
Figure 3. Soil Emergence and Fresh Weight Analysis of Swiss Chard. Following from the Root Growth experiment seen above, the same treatments were used to analyse the performance of seeds in soil, eventually conducting a Fresh Weight/Yield analysis at the end of the experiment.

96 Swiss Chard seeds of each treatment were placed into soil, with subsequent emergence, and ultimate yield being monitored. The picture above consists of a side-by-side comparison of untreated seedlings on the left, and treated seedlings on the right at around the 2-week stage. Treated seedlings have an accelerated and more synchronised emergence which is translated into increases in the overall fresh weight upon harvest at the end of the growing, seen in the graph above. At harvest, plants of treated seeds saw a 19% increase in total Fresh Weight (g) compared to plants of untreated seeds.

In a similar experiment to the above example, treated seeds were planted and compared to untreated seeds planted in conjunction. At the end of growing, plants were harvested. Upon harvest, it was found that seeds treated with ActivatedAir™ gave rise to larger plants, which had an increased fresh weight of ~9%, as seen in the graph above (middle tray in the picture below).

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Zayndu
Zayndu
Figure 4. Further Chard Soil Growing Experiments. Similarly, in further experiments, untreated chard seeds (left, on each picture) and Treated chard seeds (right, on each picture) were grown in soil to analyse emergence and yield. This set of pictures consists of untreated seedlings (left) and treated seedlings (right) at Day 7 (top), Day 14 (middle), and Day 21 (bottom).

Conclusion

Overall, Zayndu’s ActivatedAir™ cold plasma priming system has given positive effects to Chard seeds in terms of germination and overall growth.

To find out more about our ActivatedAir™ technology, visit our website here, or send us an email at info@wordpress-325784-5086705.cloudwaysapps.com.

Written by Sam Gee