Effect of Cold Plasma on Mortality of Tribolium Castaneum on Maida Flour

Abstract

Cold plasma is an emerging non thermal processing technology and is one of the novel promising methods for insect mortality. In order to study whether cold plasma could be suitable for control and to investigate the effect of plasma stress on mortality of Tribolium castaneum, three treatment variables were used: electrode gap (3 to 5cm), exposure time (1 to 5min) and applied voltage (1000 to 2500V). Mortality rate of an adult was examined after 24h of incubation at 35°C with twenty different treatment combinations as per CCD of RSM. Significant increase in mortality rate of an adult was observed with increase in applied voltage, exposure time and decrease in electrode distance. No significant color change was observed due to plasma exposure on Maida flour using L, a, b color values. This study will pave the way for an effective low temperature treatment technique in stored food product insect management.

Hladna plazma je nova tehnologija hladne prerade koja utiče na uginuće insekata . U cilju ispitivanja pogodnosti hladne plazme za kontrolu Tribolium castaneum korišćena su tri varijabilna tretmana: zazor elektroda (3 do 5 cm), vreme izlaganja (1 do 5 min) i napon (1000 do 2500V) . Stopa smrtnosti je ispitivana nakon 24h inkubacije na 35°C sa dvadeset različitih kombinacija tretmana kao prema CCD od RSM. Značajno povećanje stope smrtnosti primećena je sa porastom napona, vremena izloženosti i smanjenja zazora elektroda. Nema značajne promene boje zbog izlaganja brašna plazmi. Ova studija će otvoriti put za efikasnu tehniku tretmana niskim temperaturama u skladištu prehrambenih proizvoda radi kontrole insekata.