Effects of plasma-activated water treatment on seed germination and growth of mung bean sprouts

The present work aimed to investigate the effect of plasma-activated water (PAW) on seed germination and seedling growth of mung bean sprouts. Distilled water was exposed to non-thermal plasma for 15, 30, 60, and 90 s to prepare PAW, which was defined as PAW15, PAW30, PAW60, and PAW90, respectively. The germination rate, growth characteristics, total phenolic and flavonoid contents were all maximized when mung bean seeds were treated by PAW15, then followed by a decline over the prolonged plasma activation time (30–90 s). PAW15 caused no remarkably changes in the antioxidant capacity of sprouts as compared to DW (p > 0.05). However, the antioxidant activity of sprouts prepared with PAW30, PAW60, and PAW90 were decreased significantly (p < 0.05) compared with that of sprouts soaked in distilled water. In summary, PAW may be used to improve the production of sprouts, but the process parameters should be optimized for each application.