Abstract
In this article, we investigated the impact of a two electrodes argon atmospheric pressure plasma jet with a second grounded electrode (SGE) on the basil (Ocimum
basilicum) seeds germination rate. The SGE enhanced the axial electric field in the direction of the treated sample. The plasma operated with two current pulses per each halve a cycle of an applied voltage. The second plasma jet current pulsed increased from 0.7 mA to 3.6 mA and the emission of the O (777.2 nm) increased 3.85 times when the jet operated with the SGE compared to that operated without SGE. The germination rate increased by eight times at 5 min of exposure using the SGE. The SEM images proved a clear etching of the basil (O.
basilicum) seed surface by plasma jet with more pronounced etching and cracks by using SGE specially at higher exposure times.