Practical Soil Treatment in a Greenhouse Using Surface Barrier Discharge Ozone Generator

The authors have proposed the extermination of soil worms such as nematodes and the acceleration of plant growth by ozone treatment of soil because agricultural chemicals cause environmental problems such as the generation of resistant bacteria and the increase of toxic residuals and nitrogen. So far, laboratory-scaled experiments proved the effectiveness of ozone treatment of soil using a surface barrier discharge for the extermination of soil worms and for the enhancement of plant growth. In this paper, a movable ozone treatment system was developed for up-scaled application to verify the effectiveness and availability of ozone treatment of ridges in an actual greenhouse. It was found that the weights of harvested Komatsuna, radish, and spinach cultivated at ozone treated ridges were improved due to the increased nitrogen nutrient of soil after the ozone treatment. Quantification using digital numbers of red, green, and blue colors for digital camera photographs of plants was also verified to evaluate the growth of plants during cultivation.