Effect of cold atmospheric pressure plasma treatment on fungal mycelium grow and spores germination

 

Iu. Veremii¹, N. Tsvyd², D. Nikulin², M. Sukhomlyn², V. Chernyak¹, V. Iukhymenko¹,

E. Martysh¹

 

¹ Faculty of Radio Physics, Electronics and Computer Systems, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

² Educational and Scientific Center “Institute of Biology and Medicine”, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine

 

Nowadays humanity has many challenges to solve: global warming, overpopulation, lack of food etc. That is why scientists are trying to invent more efficient, more environmentally friendly and less power-consuming tecnologies. Cold plasma discharge application is one of the most perspective ways to approach this aims. Today treatment by cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) can be used for sterilization, cultivation of fruits and vegetables, healing wounds. The goal of work was to discover an effect of CAPP on fungal spores and high mushroom germination. For this experiment was used plasma jet based on gliding arc discharge, working gas was air. In the experiment, the processing time and the distance from the sample to the aperture of the discharge chamber were varied.

 Eventually, plasma processing of spores Aspergillus niger and Penicillium sp. resulted in growth lag of the colonies. Even so, high mushrooms (Calvatia candida, Cyathus olla) shown different result and increasing of growth of the mycelium was detected. Summing up, cold plasma chemoactive particles demonstrated different effect on fungal spores and mushroom’s mycelium. First of all, discovered results can play important role in agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, our research may be cause for further study of cold plasma influence on microorganisms.