Plasma irradiation improves brewer's rice quality — Integration of ICT and agriculture by Nagoya University

The treatment of rice with atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma improves rice quality. This discovery was made by a research group led by Designated Professor Masaru Hori and Designated Lecturer Hiroshi Hashizume at Nagoya University's Center for Low-temperature Plasma Sciences in collaboration with Fujitsu Client Computing Limited, with the results being published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

Previously, the joint research group found that low-temperature plasma treatment in wet rice cultivation was effective for the yield and quality of brown rice. In this study, plasma treatment of the brewer's rice cultivar Yamadanishiki was conducted in a greenhouse at Nagoya University's Togo Field for Science and Education (Togo Town, Aichi Prefecture) at defined days after flowering following ear emergence and was demonstrated to improve grain quality.

Specifically, the researchers observed and measured the content of white-core grains (ratio of white-core grains to total number of grains) as a measure of brown rice quality. The ratio of white-core grains was found to be increased in brown rice preparations that underwent plasma irradiation with a pen-type He plasma jet 10 days and 15 days after flowering. Similar results were obtained in tests conducted in an artificial climate chamber that simulated the field cultivation environment. Furthermore, based on this artificial climate chamber, they constructed a Smart Agriculture System by installing various sensors and cameras for temperature, humidity, illumination, CO₂ concentration, water level, and other parameters. A variety of growth environments can be reproduced by using the various data collected by this system.

Computing-based control systems capable of simulating various cultivation environments, such as this system, are very effective in accumulating big data to develop cultivation recipes involving optimal plasma treatment regimens according to environmental changes. Smart agriculture is expected to be accelerated by integrating ICT agriculture and plasma technology to control crop cultivation.

Journal Information
Publication: Scientific Reports
Title: Direct plasma treatment of caryopses after flowering in brewer's rice cultivar Yamadanishiki enhanced those grain qualities through "Smart Agriculture System"
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-78620-y