The efficacy of ultrasonic fumigation for disinfestation of storage facilities against postharvest pathogens
Avinoam Daus, Batia Horev, Orit Dvir, Shahar Ish-Shalom and Amnon Lichter
Postharvest Biology and Technology, Volume 62, Issue 3, December 2011, Pages 310-313
2011
บทคัดย่อ
Inoculum of postharvest pathogens can accumulate inside storage rooms and contaminate new batches of fruit and vegetables, but this chain can be broken by disinfecting storage facilities between storage periods. Quaternary ammonium (QA) has been known for over 50 years as an efficient disinfectant against microorganisms, with wide applications in the food industry. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of didecyldimethylammonium chloride (Sporekill, designated here as QAsk), against development of Botrytis cinerea after direct exposure or by ultrasonic fogging. Following direct exposure to a concentration of QAsk below 5 mg L−1, a population of 104 conidia of B. cinerea was inactivated after 2 min; ultrasonic fogging with QAsk at 500 mg L−1took 30 min to achieve consistent inactivation. Fumigation at 20 °C was considerably more effective than fumigation at 5 °C, and similar results were obtained for three other postharvest pathogens, Penicillium expansum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and Alternaria alternata. These results show that conidia of B. cinerea are highly sensitive to direct exposure to QAsk, but that effective sanitation of a storage facility by ultrasonic fumigation requires a QAsk concentration two orders of magnitude greater.