Mechanistic Study of 150 W Cold Plasma Treatment for the Preservation of Hongyan Strawberries: Pesticide Degradation and Microbial Inhibition

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-910-0_17How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Plasma; Preservation efficacy; Antibacterial mechanism; Pesticide residue degradation

Abstract

This study provides the first systematic evaluation of 150 W nonthermal plasma treatment for postharvest strawberry preservation, pesticide residue mitigation, and antifungal activity. Single-factor optimization identified a 7 min exposure as optimal. Berries treated and stored at 25 ℃ exhibited a significant delay in visible decay: onset shifted from Day 4 in controls to Day 6 after plasma (p < 0.05), extending marketable life by ~2 days. At 4 ℃, neither treated nor control fruit showed spoilage through 8 days. Plasma had no significant impact on texture metrics or major nutritional components (p > 0.05) yet improved sensory taste scores. Surface spoilage fungi—including Botrytis cinerea, Geotrichum candidum, and isolates related to Talaromyces verruculosum identified by ITS rDNA sequencing—were markedly suppressed. Hyphal growth assays showed significant inhibition (p < 0.05), and atomic force microscopy revealed severe structural collapse of fungal hyphae after treatment, suggesting membrane/cell wall damage. Critically, a 7 min plasma exposure achieved immediate, complete (100%) degradation of emamectin benzoate residues on berry surfaces. Collectively, the results demonstrate that 150 W plasma, especially at 7 min, offers an effective, residue-reducing, and antifungal intervention to extend the shelf life and safety of fresh strawberries, supporting its promise for practical cold-chain and room-temperature postharvest applications.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Lanshu Gao
AU  - Jiale An
AU  - Siyu Ji
AU  - Zongyue Li
AU  - Yiming Ma
AU  - Lixia Xiong
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Mechanistic Study of 150 W Cold Plasma Treatment for the Preservation of Hongyan Strawberries: Pesticide Degradation and Microbial Inhibition
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 2nd International Symposium on Agricultural Engineering and Biology (ISAEB 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 158
EP  - 166
SN  - 2468-5747
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-910-0_17
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-910-0_17
ID  - Gao2025
ER  -