Spawn Treatment by Cold Plasma for Increase Mushroom Germination and Production

Abstract

Cold plasma technology has found favour in the agricultural industry for growth stimulating by environmental friendly approach. However, there are still leaking studying of cold plasma technology on the mushroom needs. Current convectional mushrooms germination process requires long duration (∼6 weeks) for fruiting to growth. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the cold plasma efficacy towards the oyster mushroom germination speed and fruiting body production. By using novel atmospheric cold plasma pen system, the mushroom spawn grains were generates towards the spawn. Atmospheric pressure with flow rate of 4, 5 and 6 SLM by considering different duration plasma exposure (0, 5, 15, 30, 45 and 60 seconds) with ∼7 kV of supply voltage was supplied. The efficiency of the treatment was characterised by mushroom cultivation performance particularly on (i) mycelium growth rate and (ii) mushroom fruiting body productions. The results show cold plasma processing parameter, flow rate and treatment time absolutely influence the mushroom germination and production. CP pen system optimized at 5 SLM and 15 s presents triple production of mushroom weight and speed the mycelium growth rate (only 4 weeks) compared to control spawn grains (6 weeks). As conclusion, cold plasma pen system capability applies in mushroom industry.