Ozone Penetration in a Column Containing Sunn Hemp (Crotalaria Spectabilis Roth) Seeds and the Effect on the Quality

Abstract

Ozone owns high oxidative potential against a broad microbial spectrum and can be applied directly in grain and seed for decontamination fungal and mycotoxin reduction. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of ozonation in the control of fungi and on sunn hemp seeds quality. For this, a cylindrical column of 15 cm diameter PVC was used for ozonation at different heights of the seed layer 2.95 to 17.05 cm and in different times of exposure ozone (17.7, 30, 60, 90 and 102.3 min) according to central composite rotatable design (CCRD). It was evaluated the effect of ozone on decontamination by fungi, moisture content and electric conductivity of sunn hemp seeds. Results of CCRD show different reductions of fungi and a second-order linear model was proposed (average absolute deviation 7.79% and R²=0.67). Fungi reduction (92.37%) was significantly higher in lower layers of the seed column and in longer ozone exposure times, values corresponding to 10 cm and 102.7 min, respectively. Results also showed that ozonation did not influence significantly electrical conductivity and moisture content of seeds (p-value<0.05). Thus, application of ozone can ensure maintenance of sunn hemp seeds in post-harvest without damaging your quality.

Ozon poseduje visok oksidativni potencijal širokog mikrobiološkog spektra i može se upotrebiti direktno u procesu zaštite zrna i semena za dekontaminaciju gljivica i redukciju mikotoksina. Cilj ovog rada bio je da proceni uticaj ozonacije u kontrolu gljivica na kvalitet semena konoplje. Za to je korišćena cilindrična posuda PVC-a debljine 15 cm za ozoniranje na različitim visinama sloja semena od 2,95 do 17,05 cm sa različitim vremenskim trajanjem dejstva ozona (17,7; 30; 60; 90 i 102,3 min) prema centralnom kompozitnom rotirajućem disku (CCRD). Procenjen je uticaj ozona na dekontaminaciju zrna od gljivica kod sadržaja vlage i električne provodljivosti semena za seme konoplje. Rezultati CCRD pokazuju različite vrednosti smanjenja broja gljivica kao linearni model drugog reda (prosečno apsolutno odstupanje je 7,79% i R² = 0,67). Smanjenje broja gljivica (92,37%) je znatno veće u nižim slojevima cilindrične posude sa uzorkom semena i dužim vremenskim intervalima dejstva ozona, vrednosti koje odgovaraju 10 cm i 102,7 min, respektivno. Rezultati istraživanja su takođe pokazali da process ozoniranja nije značajno uticao na električnu provodljivost i sadržaj vlage u uzorku semena konoplje (p-vriednost <0,05). Na taj način primena ozona može osigurati održavanje semena konoplje nakon žetve bez oštećenja kvaliteta zrna.