Received January 29, 2020, accepted February 25, 2020, date of publication March 9, 2020, date of current version

March 20, 2020.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2979288

Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge

Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
JING WANG1,2 , HUALU SONG1 , ZHANHUA SONG1 , YUANYUAN LU3 ,
YINFA YAN 1,4 , AND FADE LI1,4
1 Collegeof Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China
2 Schoolof Management, Shandong Technology and Business University, Yantai 264005, China
3 Schoolof Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798
4 Shandong Key Laboratory of Horticultural Machinery and Equipment, Tai’an 271018, China

Corresponding authors: Yinfa Yan (yanyinfa@sdau.edu.cn) and Fade Li (lifade@sdau.edu.cn)

This work was supported in part by the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation, China, under Grant ZR2019MEE065, and in part
by the Double-Class Construction Collaborative Innovation Team Project under Grant 564047.

ABSTRACT To investigate the effects of corona discharge field treatment of different electric field strength
with the different polarities on the vigor of millet seeds, the positive and negative corona discharge fields
generated with arc-shaped prick electrodes and plate electrodes are different for millet seeds respectively.
The treatment voltage was (2 × n kV, n = 1, 2. . .10) and the time treated was 2 min. The results showed
that after treatment by the corona discharge field, the germination potential, germination rate, germination
index and vigor index of millet seeds increased to different degrees compared with the control. The optimal
treatment voltages of the positive and negative corona discharge field were 12 kV. Under the optimal
treatment voltage, the germination indexes (germination potential, germination rate, germination index, vigor
index) of millet seeds were significantly different from the control (p <0.01), and the millet seeds treated by
the positive corona discharge field compared with the control group, the germination potential, germination
rate, germination index and vigor index increased by 21.2%, 23.0%, 19.9% and 23.2% respectively. The
germination indexes of the millet seeds treated by the negative corona discharge field increased by 29.1%,
28.5%, 26.9% and 32.1%. It was also found that under the same treatment voltage, the electrical conductivity
of the leachates of the millet seed treated with the negative corona discharge field was lower than that of the
positive, which indicated that the negative corona discharge field would repair the cell membrane more
effectively. According to various indicators, it can be concluded that the negative corona discharge field
treatment was better than the positive.

INDEX TERMS Electrical conductivity, corona discharge field, cell membrane repair, seed vigor.

I. INTRODUCTION Xu used the corona discharge fields generated with three

In recent years, because the seed treatment by electric field
has the advantages of simple operation, remarkable effect,
low consumption and environmental protection, it is increas-
ingly popularized and applied in agricultural production [1].
Studies had shown that suitable electric field treatment can
reduce cell membrane permeability [2]–[4], increase the
activity of intracellular enzymes [5], enhance cell respiration
and photosynthesis, accelerate cell mitosis, and promote cell
metabolism [6], [7], which can be significantly improve seed
vigor [8], [9], increase root-to-shoot ratio and has a positive
effect on crop early growth [10], [11].
The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and
approving it for publication was Shubhajit Roy Chowdhury
kinds of prick electrodes (needle, sawtooth, and arc- shaped)
to treat paddy seeds, the results showed that paddy seed
vigor was improved to different degrees after processing with
three kinds of corona discharge fields at the same voltage.
At the same time, it was found that the comprehensive effect
of electric field treatment of seeds with arc-shaped prick
electrodes was better than the other two electrodes [12], [13].
Lynikiene found that corona discharge field treatment can
make the germination peak of vegetable seeds 2 to 3 days ear-
lier [14]. Li and Xu used a combination of corona discharge
field and dielectric sorting of cotton seeds and paddy seeds
and found that the seed germination index of the combined
treatment was significantly higher than that of the single
. treatment [15], [16]. Cramariuc used a corona discharge field

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50268 VOLUME 8, 2020
J. Wang et al.: Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
consisting of a line-plate electrode with the field strength
of 400 kV/m to treat potato seeds. It was found that the
electric field biological effect of potato in the middle growth
period was the most obvious, and the main stem height
and tuber number were the most obvious. The total potato
yields increased significantly. It was also founded that the
potato seeds had the best seeding effect within 1 to 3 days
after the electric field treatment, and no more than 10 days
at the latest [17]. Nari found that the treatment of Astra-
galus membranaceus seeds with the corona discharge field
can effectively promote the production and differentiation of
callus, and the regeneration rate of plants was significantly
improved [18]. DC and pulsed corona discharge field were
used for bio-decontamination of Streptococci biofilm and
Bacillus cereus spores on polypropylene plastic surfaces,
the results showed that the reduction of bacterial population
(evaluated as log 10) in the biofilm on plastic surfaces treated
by DC corona reached 2.4 logs with 10 min treatment time,
and the reduction of bacterial population treated by pulsed
corona discharge field reached up to 2.2 logs at 10 min
exposure time [19]. In addition, studies had shown that proper
electric field treatment can improve the cold resistance of
crops [20], drought resistance [21]–[23], and salt-alkali resis-
tance [24], [25].
At present, high-voltage electric field treatment of millet
seeds had been studied [26], [27], but the use of corona
discharge field with different field strength directions to com-
pare the treatment of millet has not been reported. Therefore,
this research mainly used the positive and the negative corona
discharge field generated with the arc-shaped prick electrodes
and the plate electrode to treat the millet seeds separately and
to explore the germination index (germination potential and
germination rate) of different treatment voltages on millet
seeds in the range of 2-20 kV [8], [12], [13], [15], [16].
Besides, the effects of the germination index and vigor index
were compared.
II. TEST MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. TEST MATERIAL
The millet ( Setaria italica) seed variety used in the exper-
iment was red-headed yellow (provided by the Daxindian
Hongying Ecological Planting Family Farm in Penglai City,
China). It was harvested in 2016 and the place of origin was
Penglai City, Shandong Province. Its 1000-grain weight was
(2.98 ± 0.07) g, and the initial moisture content was (7.2 ±
0.3)%. The seeds used in the test were uniform and plump
seeds.
B. TEST DEVICE
The test device is mainly composed of AC test transformer
(YDJ-50, Beijing Transformer Factory, China), high volt-
age silicon reactor (2CL 150 KV/0.01A, Beijing Jinjiangsen
Electronic Technology Research Institute, China), high volt-
age measuring device (FRC-100, Beijing Fengyuan High
Voltage Electrical Factory, China), 2 mA digital ammeter
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FIGURE 1. Schematic of corona discharge field treatment for seeds.
FIGURE 2. Arc-shaped prick electrode.
(Hangzhou Salon Electronics Co., Ltd., China), arc-shaped
prick electrode [12], [15] array and plate electrode. The AC
transformer outputs high voltage alternating current, which
is continuously adjustable in the range of 0 to 50 kV. After
half-wave rectification with a high voltage rectifier diode,
it was applied to the arc-shaped prick electrode, and the plate
electrode (lower plate) was grounded. When the cathode lead
of the high voltage rectifier diode was connected to the AC
transformer output, the rectifier output negative high voltage,
and then the negative corona discharge field was formed
between the arc-shaped prick electrode and the plate elec-
trode, as shown in Fig.1. When the anode lead of the diode
was connected to the AC transformer output, the positive high
voltage output of the rectifier was applied to the arc-shaped
prick electrode, and then the positive corona electric field was
formed.
As shown in Fig.2, the arc-shaped prick electrodes with a
thickness of 0.6 mm were manufactured with a laser cutting
machine. Each piece of prick electrode has 24 arc-shaped
tips with a radius of 4.5 mm. The angle between the two
tangents of the arc is 35◦ . The curved tip spacing is 16 mm.
The test shares 10 prick electrodes, the distance between the
electrodes was 24 mm, the gap between the tip of the arc-
shaped electrode and the plate electrode was 50 mm, and
the size of the plate electrode was 240 mm × 400 mm.
The specific shape can be found in the references of our
laboratory [12], [13], [28].
C. TEST METHODS
1) CORONA DISCHARGE FIELD TREATMENT TEST
An air-conditioned room with the size of 2 m × 2 m was
built in our laboratory, the room temperature was automat-
ically adjusted by the air conditioner (Gree KFR-26GW,
Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai, China) and the
humidity was regulated by the intelligent humidifier (Philips
HU4803, Philips (China) Investment Co., Ltd., China).
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 J. Wang et al.: Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
The corona discharge field treatment test was carried out in
the air-conditioned room with a temperature of 25 ◦ C ± 2 ◦ C
and humidity of 30% ± 3%. Before each treatment, a single
layer of millet seeds about 30 g was evenly spread on the plate
electrode. The anode of the high voltage diode was connected
to the arc-shaped prick electrode, the plate electrode was
grounded, and after the power was turned on, the millet seed
was processed by forming a positive corona discharge field.
After all the positive corona discharge field treatment tests
were completed, the cathode of the high voltage diode was
connected to the arc-shaped prick electrode to form a negative
corona discharge field to treat the millet seeds.
According to the previous research of the research team
and the preliminary pre-test [8], [12], [13], [15], [16], the pro-
cessing voltage was firstly set to 14 kV, and the processing
time was set to 1 min, 2 min, 4 min, 8 min, respectively.
Exploring the impact of time on the vigor of millet seeds.
The test results were shown in Fig.2. To explore the influence
of different electric field strength and electric field direction
on the seed vigor of the millet, according to the test results
of Fig. 2, the processing time of the positive and negative
corona discharges field was 2 min, and the processing voltage
was 2×n kV (n=1, 2. . . 10). The treated millet seeds were
stored in the sealed plastic bag, and the control group (CK)
was untreated.
2) GERMINATION TEST
The treated seeds and the control group were respectively
immersed and sterilized with a mercury chloride solution
having a concentration of 0.1% for 10 min, rinsed with
deionized water for 3 times, and evenly placed neatly on a
paper bed in a petri dish, 100 capsules as one repeat, each
process was repeated 4 times. The standard germination test
was carried out in the plant growth room of State Key Lab-
oratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Agricultural University,
Tai’an, Shandong, China. The growth chamber temperature
was 25 ◦ C, and the growth conditions were in accordance with
GB/T 5520-2011 standard. Spray the appropriate amount of
water every day during germination, for keeping the surface
of the filter paper moist, and record the number of seeds
germinated every day until the end of germination. At the end
of the germination, 20 seedlings were randomly selected from
each repetition, and the seedling length was measured, then
the average of the seedling length was taken. Finally, the ger-
mination potential, germination rate, germination index and
vigor index of each replicate were calculated. Equation (1),
(2), (3), (4) was shown as follows:
GE = G3 /100 (1)
GP = G7 /100 (2)
X
GI = (Gt /Dt ) (3)
VI = GI × S (4)
where GE is the germination potential, %; G3 is the number
of germination of millet seeds on the third day of the germi-
nation test; GP is the germination rate, %; G7 is the number of
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germination of millet seeds at the end of germination on the
7th day of the germination test; GI is the germination index;
Dt is the number of germination days; Gt is the number of
seed germination per day corresponding to Dt ; VI is the vigor
index of millet seeds; S is the average seedling length of a
single seedling, mm.
3) CONDUCTIVITY TEST
When the treatment voltage was 12 kV, the millet seeds
were treated by two kinds of corona discharge fields with
different field directions, There were 3 repeated experiment
in total, the seed mass of each repeated experiment was 10 g,
precise weighing, after washing 3 times with deionized water,
the filter paper was blotted water off the seeds. Place the
seeds of each repeated experiment in a clean beaker, and add
100 mL of deionized water. Take another 3 beakers and add
only 100 ml deionized water as the control. To reduce dust
pollution and water evaporation, the beaker was sealed with
a sealing film, and then placed in an incubator at 25 ◦ C. After
soaking for 24 h, the conductivity of the soaking solution
was measured with a conductivity meter (Star A215, Thermo
Scientific Orion). The average electrical conductivity of each
treatment was calculated according to (5):
3
!
1 X Ti − CKi
T = (5)
3 mi
i=1
where T is the average conductivity per gram of each treat-
ment, µS/(cm·g); Ti is the conductivity of each repetition
experiment, µS/cm; CKi is the conductivity of each control
group, µS/cm; mi is the mass of the millet seeds of each
repetition experiment, g.
III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
A. INFLUENCE AND ANALYSIS OF ELECTRIC FIELD
TREATMENT ON GERMINATION INDEX
The treatment voltage was set to 14 kV, and the effect of
different treatment time on the seed vigor of the millet was
shown in Fig.3. The experiment found that the germination
index of millet seeds was the best when the treatment time
was 2 min. The germination potential, germination rate and
germination index of millet seeds after the positive corona
discharge field treatment were significantly different from
the control group (p <0.01), the germination index of the
seeds after the negative corona discharge field treatment was
significantly different from the control group (p <0.01).
Fig.4 shows the effect of the positive and negative corona
discharge field on the seed vigor of millet seeds under dif-
ferent voltages at 2 min. The germination index (germina-
tion potential, germination rate, germination index, and vigor
index) of millet seeds after treatment by the corona discharge
field was improved to varying degrees compared to the con-
trol group. As can be seen from Fig.4, the change trend of
the comprehensive index of millet seeds was consistent with
the change of treatment voltage, and each index increases
with the increase of the treatment voltage, and then gradually
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J. Wang et al.: Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
FIGURE 3. Effect of processing time on the vigor of millet seeds. (a) Germination potential, (b) Germination rate, (c)
Germination index, (d) Vigor index.
decreases with the increase of the voltage after reaching the
maximum value.
From the results shown in Fig.4a, it can be seen that in
the range of 2-20 kV, the germination potential gradually
increased with the increase of the treatment voltage, and
reaches a maximum at 12 kV, then it gradually decreased
with the increase of voltage. After treatment by the positive
corona discharge field, the germination potential of seeds
increased the most at 12 kV, which was 21.2% higher than
that of the control group, and there was significantly dif-
ferent from the control (p <0.01). After treatment by the
negative corona discharge field, the germination potential
of millet seeds increased by 29.1% compared with the con-
trol group at 12 kV, and there was a significant difference
(p <0.01).
Fig.4b shows the experimental result of the germination
rate of millet seeds. After the positive corona discharge field
treatment, the germination rate at 10 and 16 kV was signifi-
cantly different from that of the control (p <0.05), and it was
an extremely significant difference (p <0.01) at 12 and 14 kV.
The germination rate reached the maximum at 12 kV, and
increased by 23.0% compared with the control group; After
the negative corona discharge field treatment, the germination
VOLUME 8, 2020
rate of millet seeds was significantly higher than that of the
control group. There was no significant difference in the
germination rate of millet seeds at 2 kV and 4 kV com-
pared with the control group. Under other treatment voltages,
the germination potential was significantly different from the
control (p <0.01), and the germination potential increased
the most at 12 kV, which was higher than the control group
by 28.5%.
Fig.4c shows the results of the germination index treated
by the positive and negative corona discharge field. After
the positive corona discharge field treatment, the germination
index of millet seeds was significantly different from that of
the control group (p <0.05) at 10 kV, and the germination
index reached the maximum after 12 kV voltage treatment,
the germination index of millet seeds increased by 19.9%
compared with the control group at this voltage, and there was
a significant difference compared with the control (p <0.01).
After the negative corona discharge field treatment, the ger-
mination index of millet seeds increased significantly higher
than that of the positive corona. After treatment, the germi-
nation index of millet seeds at 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 kV were
significantly different from that of the contrast (p <0.01).
The seed germination index of millet seeds increase was
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 J. Wang et al.: Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
FIGURE 4. Effect of corona discharge field treatment on the vigor of millet seeds. (a) Germination potential, (b) Germination rate,
(c) Germination index, (d) Vigor index.
the largest when the voltage was 12 kV, it was up 26.9%
compared with the control group.
Fig.4d shows the experimental result of the vigor index
of millet seeds. After the positive corona discharge field
treatment, the treatment effect was the best at 12 kV, which
was 23.2% higher than that of the control group, and it was
significantly different from the control (p <0.01); After the
negative corona discharge treatment, the vigor index of millet
seeds increased under different treatment voltages. When the
treatment voltage was 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 kV, the millet
seed vigor index was significantly different compared with
the control (p <0.01), the increase was the highest at 12 kV,
and the vigor index was increased by 32.1%.
It can be seen from Fig.4 that the treatment effect of the
negative corona discharge field was better than that of the
positive under each treatment voltage. When the millet seeds
were treated by the positive corona discharge field, the ger-
mination potential, germination rate, germination index and
vigor index of the treated seeds were significantly different
(p <0.01). The four germination indexes of millet seeds at
10 kV and 14 kV were not significantly different from those
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at 12 kV (p <0.05). When the negative corona discharge
field was used to treat millet seeds, the germination potential,
germination rate, germination index and vigor index of the
treated seeds were significantly different (p <0.01). The
germination rate and germination index of millet seeds at
10 kV and 14 kV were not significantly different from those
at 12 kV (p <0.05), but the germination potential and vigor
index of the treated seeds are significantly different from
those at 12 kV (p <0.05). The research results provided
a reference for the development of corona discharge field
treatment equipment for crop seeds.
The four germination indexes, such as germination poten-
tial, germination rate, germination index and vigor index, can
explain the vigor of the seed to some extent, but there are
correlations between these indicators, and there is overlap in
the explanation of the corona discharge to improve seed vigor.
Therefore, to analyze the influence of two electric fields on
the vigor of millet seeds more intuitively and accurately,
the four germination indexes were transformed into an inte-
grated index by principal component analysis, and the results
are shown in Fig.5.
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J. Wang et al.: Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
FIGURE 5. Effect of corona discharge field treatment on integrated index
of millet seeds.
It can be clearly observed from Fig.5 that the negative
corona discharge field was better than the positive at the same
treatment voltage. With the increase of treatment voltage,
the integrated index of millet seeds increased first and then
decreased gradually. Whether it was the positive corona dis-
charge field or the negative corona discharge field, the inte-
grated index of millet seeds reached the maximum at 12 kV.
This shows that the biological effect of the corona discharge
field was selective to the treatment voltage when other con-
ditions were the same, and the biological effect was different
under different treatment conditions, and there was an opti-
mal treatment condition. Under this condition, the biological
effect of the electric field produced by the corona field was
the most obvious, which was more beneficial to improve seed
vigor.
B. EFFECT OF ELECTRIC FIELD TREATMENT ON
CONDUCTIVITY OF MILLET SEED LEACHING SOLUTION
Studies had shown that the electrical conductivity of seed
leachates was negatively correlated with seed vigor, and
the lower the electrical conductivity of seed leachates, indi-
cating that the cell membrane function was more perfect,
and the seed vigor was higher. Otherwise, if the seed cell
membrane was damaged, the electrical conductivity of seed
leachates was higher and the seed vigor was lower [3]. The
electrical conductivity curve of the seed leachates is shown
in Fig.6 when the treatment voltage was in the range of 2-
10 kV. The electrical conductivity of the seed leachates
treated by the positive corona discharge field treatment
changed little with the voltage, but the electrical conductivity
of seed leachates treated by the negative corona discharge
field showed a tendency to decrease with the increase of
voltage. It was indicated that in this voltage range, the positive
corona discharge field treatment had little effect on promoting
millet seed cell membrane repair, and the negative corona dis-
charge field treatment could promote cell membrane repair,
and the higher the voltage, the more obvious the cell mem-
brane repair effect.
In the range of 12-20 kV, the electrical conductivity of
the millet seed leachates after the positive and the negative
VOLUME 8, 2020
FIGURE 6. Effect of corona discharge field treatment on the electrical
conductivity of millet seed leachates.
discharge field increased with the increase of voltage, and
the electrical conductivity was the smallest at 12 kV, which
indicated that at 12 kV, the corona discharge field had the
most obvious effect on cell membrane repair. When the volt-
age was higher than 12 kV, the effect of the corona discharge
field treatment on cell membrane repair was getting smaller
and smaller. Under the same treatment voltage, the electrical
conductivity of the seed leachates after the negative corona
discharge field treatment was lower than that of the positive
corona discharge field treatment, which indicated that the
negative corona discharge field treatment was more beneficial
to the seed cell membrane repair than the positive.
IV. DISCUSSION
Corona discharge refers to the local self-sustained discharge
of a gaseous medium in a non-uniform electric field. In the
vicinity of a tip electrode with a small radius of curvature,
the gas is ionized because the local electric field strength
is higher than the ionization intensity of the gas. Accord-
ing to gas discharge theory [29], when the positive corona
discharge, positive ions are distributed near the tip of the
prick electrode, electrons are drawn into the electrode, pos-
itive ions are reached to seeds than to the plate electrode;
When the negative corona discharges, with the strengthening
of the electric field, the positive ions are drawn into the
electrode, and the negative ions diffuse into the gap space,
and the negative ions which are dominated by electrons reach
the flat electrode. It can be seen from the test results that the
negative corona discharge field was better than the positive at
the same treatment voltage. It was supposed that the charged
particles could directly collide with the surface of the seeds.
On the other hand, the volume of electron is smaller than
the volume of positive ions, and the electron passed through
the cell walls more easily into the cell. Many researchers
had studied and explored the mechanism of biological effects
of high-voltage electric field, because of the complexity of
biological effects, there was no consistent conclusion so far.
However, studies had shown that the high-voltage electric
field can polarize the bound charges in the seeds, change
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 J. Wang et al.: Effect of Positive and Negative Corona Discharge Field on Vigor of Millet Seeds
the permeability of the cell membrane, improve the repair
ability of the cell membrane, and ensure the integrity of the
membrane system [3], [4]. Under the stress of the electric
field, the membrane potential on both sides of the cell mem-
brane changes, which in turn affects the energy conversion
and material transport of the cells. Piras used the positive and
negative electrostatic fields to treat pine seeds separately and
found that seed germination was significantly improved by
the positive electrostatic field, but the negative electrostatic
field treatment on pine seeds was not so effective as the pos-
itive one, with slightly improved germination percentage at
the electrical voltage of −500 kV/m 10 min [30]. The plasma
treatment of rapeseed seeds for 1 min showed positive effects
on the germination rate, which improved the germination
rate by 7.7%, compared to that of the control group. And
the results showed that the germination rate was decreased
with increasing exposure time beyond 1 min [31]. Different
plants have different degrees of sensitivity to the corona
discharge field treatment, which may be due to differences
in the composition of the cell walls that make up the cells,
which requires further research.
V. CONCLUSION
When the gap between the arc-shaped prick electrode and
the plate electrode was 50 mm and the treatment time was
2 min, the optimal treatment voltage for the millet seeds
treated by the positive and the negative corona discharge
field was 12 kV. Under these optimal treatment conditions,
the germination indexes (germination potential, germination
rate, germination index, vigor index) of millet seeds with the
corona discharge field treatment were significantly different
from the control group (p <0.01). After treatment with the
positive corona discharge field, the germination potential,
germination rate, germination index and vigor index were
increased by 21.2%, 23.0%, 19.9% and 23.2%, respectively,
compared with the control group; The four germination
indexes of the millet seeds treated with the negative corona
discharge field were increased by 29.1%, 28.5%, 26.9%, and
32.1% compared with the control group, respectively.
Under the electric field device and test conditions
described in this research, when the corona discharge field
treatment voltage was set to 12 kV, the electrical conduc-
tivity of the millet seed leachates was the lowest. At the
same treatment voltage, the electrical conductivity of the
leachates of the millet seeds treated with the negative corona
discharge field was lower than that of the seeds treated with
the positive corona discharge field. The results showed that
the corona discharge field treatment had the most significant
effect on the seed cell membrane repair at 12 kV, and the
negative corona discharge field treatment promoted the cell
membrane repair better than the positive corona discharge
treatment. In combination with various indicators, the effect
of increasing the seed vigor of the millet seeds by the negative
corona discharge field was better than that by the positive
corona discharge field. A certain dose of the corona discharge
field, especially the negative corona discharge field, could
50274
repair the seed cell membrane and reduce the seed leachates.
Therefore, further experiments should be carried out in the
future to explore whether the mechanism of improving seed
vigor by corona discharge field treatment is an electric field
repairing the seed cell membrane, which in turn improves
seed vigor.
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[20] H. Y. Huang, N. Du, and Z. Han, ‘‘Effects of wheat seedling cold resistance ZHANHUA SONG was born in 1984. He received
through pretreatments of seeds with high voltage electrostatic field,’’ Seed, the Ph.D. degree in agricultural mechanization
vol. 8, pp. 24–26 and 31, 2016. engineering from Shandong Agricultural Univer-
[21] Y.-B. Dong, B. Li, R. Peng, Y.-Q. Jiang, and S.-G. Ji, ‘‘Drought-resistance sity, in 2013. He is currently an Associate Profes-
research of alfalfa by different high voltage electrostatic field reatment,’’ sor and the Director of the Agricultural Machinery
J. Sci. Teachers’ College Univ., vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 59–62, 2007. Department, Shandong Agricultural University.
[22] H. Chen, J.-L. Wu, X.-J. Li, and B.-Z. Lu, ‘‘Effect of electric field treatment His research interests include modern agricultural
of buckwheat seeds on the growth under drought stress in seedling state,’’
machinery design and agricultural product pro-
J. Shaanxi Normal Univ. (Natural Sci. Ed.), vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 78–82, 2009.
cessing engineering.
[23] T. Q. Yang, ‘‘Sensitivity to drought stress of the germination and seeding
growth of caragana korshinskii from seeds treated with electric field,’’
J. Desert Res., vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 1717–1722, 2013.
[24] J. N. Zhong, ‘‘The effect of high-voltage prick electrostatic field on
saline-alkali stress resistance of Leymus Chinensis seedling,’’ M.S. thesis,
Northeast Normal Univ., Changchun, China, 2007.
[25] J. Lu, T. Yang, E. Su, and Y. Deng, ‘‘Effect of electric field treatment of
wheat seeds on the salt resistance of growth in seedling stage,’’ Acta Scien-
tiarum Naturalium Universitatis NeiMongol., vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 707–710, YUANYUAN LU was born in 1980. She received
2001. the B.S. degree in electrical and electronic engi-
[26] J. Chen, J. Hu, H. Du, H. Wang, and Y. Wang, ‘‘Response of endogenous neering from Nanyang Technological University,
hormone in germination of millet seeds to optimal high voltage electro- Singapore, in 2008, where she is currently pur-
static field,’’ Trans. Chin. Soc. Agricult. Eng., vol. 32, no. 13, pp. 286–292, suing the Master of Engineering degree with the
2016.
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
[27] J. Z. Chen, ‘‘Growth and physiological effects of high voltage electric
field on millet,’’ Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Agricult., Shanxi Agricult. Univ.,
Her research interests include artificial intelli-
Taigu, China, 2016. gence, deep learning, bioengineering, and control
[28] Y. Yan, S. Han, S. Zhou, Z. Song, F. Li, C. Zhang, X. Zhang, and and automation.
J. Wang, ‘‘Parameter optimization on improving aged cotton seeds vigor by
extremely low frequency high voltage pulsed electric field,’’ Trans. Chin.
Soc. Agricult. Eng., vol. 33, no. 22, pp. 301–307, 2017.
[29] E. M. van Veldhuizen and W. R. Rutgers, ‘‘Corona discharges: Fun-
damentals and diagnostics,’’ in Proc. 4th Frontiers Low-Temp. Plasma
Diagnostics, Kerkrade, The Netherlands, 2001, pp. 40–49.
[30] A. Piras, Z. Gui, L. Qiao, K. Gui, and Y. Fan, ‘‘Effect of negative elec-
trostatic field treatment on germination of seeds soaked GA3,’’ Int. J. Soft
Comput. Eng., vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 191–194, 2013. YINFA YAN was born in 1976. He received the
[31] P. Puligundla, J.-W. Kim, and C. Mok, ‘‘Effect of corona discharge plasma
M.S. degree in control theory and control engi-
jet treatment on decontamination and sprouting of rapeseed (Brassica
Napus L.) seeds,’’ Food Control, vol. 71, pp. 376–382, Jan. 2017.
neering from the Shandong University of Science
and Technology, in 2005, and the Ph.D. degree
in agricultural mechanization engineering from
Shandong Agricultural University, in 2017. He is
JING WANG was born in 1992. She received currently an Associate Professor and the Director
the B.S. degree in agricultural mechanization and of the Automation Department, Shandong Agri-
automation and the M.S. degree in mechani- cultural University. His research interests include
cal design and theory from Shandong Agricul- bioelectromagnetic effect, intelligent agricultural
tural University, in 2015 and 2018, respectively. mechanical equipment, and application of machine vision in agriculture.
From 2018 to 2019, she was a Lecturer with the
Shandong Aluminum Vocational College. Since
2019, she has been with Shandong Technology
and Business University. Her research interests
include agricultural engineering and application of
high-voltage electrostatic technology in agriculture.
FADE LI was born in 1962. He received the
M.S. degree in agricultural mechanical design and
HUALU SONG was born in 1991. He received manufacturing from Jiangsu University, in 1989,
the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from and the Ph.D. degree in food science from China
Shandong Agricultural University, where he is cur- Agricultural University, in 2002. He is currently
rently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in agricultural a Professor with Shandong Agricultural Univer-
mechanization engineering. His research interests sity. He became a Station Scientist of Chinese
include biosensor, bio-electromagnetic effect, and Modern Agricultural Industry Technology Sys-
intelligent agricultural mechanical equipment. tem, in 2017. His research interests include bio-
electromagnetic effect, agricultural mechanical
equipment, and food science.

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