## 4 Conclusions  
In this study, the potential of ACP treatment for the degradation of DON on barley grains and the effects on selected grain quality parameters, germination, and seedling growth parameters were evaluated. ACP treatment was able to reduce 48% of DON concentration on barley grains in 6 min. The degradation rate was further increased by the addition of water to the surface of by steeping without subsequent drying of the grains before ACP treatment. ACP treatment produced ROS and \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Treatment**} & **Average Root** & \begin{tabular}{c} **Average Root** \\ **Surface Area** \\ **(cm)** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Average Root** \\ **Surface Area** \\ **(cm)** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Average Root** \\ **Diameter (mm)** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Root Volume** \\ **(cm)** \\ \end{tabular} & \begin{tabular}{c} **Shoot Length** \\ **(cm)** \\ \end{tabular} & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **Number of** \\ **Roots** \\ \end{tabular} &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Germination** \\ **Percentage** \\ **(\%)** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline Control & \(44.2\pm 17.8\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(6.37\pm 2.52\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.462\pm 0.037\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.073\pm 0.029\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(6.76\pm 1.72\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(5.67\pm 0.64\) \({}^{\circ}\) & 80 \\
1 min ACP & \(33.7\pm 19.4\pm 4.8\pm 2.50\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.495\pm 0.11\) & \(0.058\pm 0.026\) & \(6.40\pm 1.92\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(5.16\pm 1.49\) \({}^{\circ}\) & 83.3 \\
6 min ACP & \(42.2\pm 15.7\)\({}^{\circ}\) & \(6.35\pm 2.23\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.489\pm 0.006\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.078\pm 0.029\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(7.36\pm 1.62\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(5.46\pm 0.84\) \({}^{\circ}\) & 93.3 \\
10 min ACP & \(32.6\pm 20.0\)\({}^{\circ}\) & \(4.84\pm 2.50\)\({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.498\pm 0.066\) \({}^{\circ}\) & \(0.058\pm 0.027\)\({}^{\circ}\) & \(6.26\pm 2.07\)\({}^{\circ}\) & \(5.15\pm 1.26\) \({}^{\circ}\) & 90 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* The values indicate the average of the germinated grains for each parameter. Values with different letters in the same column are significantly different (\(p<0.05\), \(n=3\)).  
\end{table} 
Table 7: Comparison of germination parameters of barley grains as a function of ACP treatment time. Figure 4: Effect of ACP treatment on seedling growth of barley after 7 days of germination. (**A**): photo images. (**B**): scanned root images using WinRHIZO software. RNS, however, ozone exhibited the highest concentration. The storage of barley grains after 6 min ACP treatment further increased the degradation rate of DON. Protein, \(\beta\)-glucan and moisture content of the barley grains were not significantly affected by ACP treatment. The effect of ACP on germination parameters of barley grains was time-dependent, and 6 min ACP treatment showed the best results. Overall, ACP treatment showed promising results on degrading DON, without significant adverse effects on the quality parameters of barley grains. Future research is needed to optimize and coordinate critical process factors required to achieve required DON degradation levels, while maintaining barley quality. Cost-efficiency and other practical challenges will also need to be addressed once this laboratory technique is validated, scaled-up and adapted for commercial applications. E.F. Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Investigation, Writing--Original Draft, Review and Editing. B.I. : Methodology, Investigation, Review and Editing. T.V. : Methodology, Investigation, Review and Editing. M.S.T. : Methodology, Investigation, Review and Editing. M.S.R. : Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, Review and Editing, Supervision, funding acquisition. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research was funded by Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Alberta Canola Producers Commission, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (grant nos. ACPC103 MD2018; 2018F180R; RGPIN-2017-05051, CRDPJ532306).