EFFICIENT PRODUCTION OF PLASMA ACTIVATED WATER AS A GREEN FUNGICIDE FOR CONTROLLING AND MITIGATING CROP DISEASES

The goal of this seed grant project is to examine the feasibility of plasma-activated water (PAW) as a green fungicide alternative particularly working for controlling and mitigating the chickpea Ascochyta blight disease caused by the fungal pathogen Ascochyta rabiei, and to initiate the work for developing a viable plasma discharge technology for producing such PAW cost-effectively. Specific objectives for this project include 1) establish a lab-scale CLPD system for continuous production of PAW with uniform chemical and physical attributes for inactivating A. rabiei spores; 2) investigate the inactivation of A. rabiei spores by direct liquid plasma discharge and PAW treatment to understand the disease control mechanism; 3) evaluate PAW performance in chickpea field for Ascochyta Blight disease control and mitigation.