THE EFFECT OF LOW LEVEL OF OZONE ON GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF RHIZOPUS SP. IN VITRO
Abstract: Postharvest diseases
caused by microbial
pathogens account for
a great loss
every year. Fungicides have
been used for
decade to control
spoilage in conventional
agriculture. It is generally known that long term use of
chemical would harm the environment and bring resistance to organisms. Increasing public
concern over the
use of conventional
fungicide due to
health issues has prompted
investigations to find alternative environmentally friendly control agent that
might be used to suppress diseases development in storage.
Ozone has been considered by researchers as an effective alternative to
the use of traditional pesticides in food preservation because it leaves no
residue on fresh produce so that safer to consumed. This work
determined the effect
of low level
ozone exposure (180
ppb) on colony development and spores production of
Rhizopus oryzae, R. stolonifer and R. microsporus var.chinensis in vitro.
Two types of
inocula were used,
mycelial and spore,
as both are
responsible for spread
of spoilage when stored with uncontaminated food. The tested fungi were
stored in an ozone chamber at 7-8 oC for 14 days. Colony development was
studied by measuring the colony
diameter while sporesproduction by
time fungi was
assed on the
14th day of the
incubation period. Ozone
exposure at 180 ppb has varied result on colony
development and spore production on each species examined.
Overall the work suggests that continuous low level of ozone exposure at
180 ppb for 14 dayshas different effect
on different species
depend on the
ability each microorganism
to counteract with ozone exposure.
Author: Hartati Oktarina, Ian
Singleton, Sanjay Anthony-Babu
Journal Code: jpbiologigg120002
