Disinfection by Ozone Microbubbles Can Cause Morphological Change of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis Spores

Abstract

To investigate the difference in the disinfectant efficiency of ozone microbubbles (O₃MB) and ozone millibubbles (O₃MMB), the morphological change of the treated Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis spores was observed with scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). The disinfectant efficiency of O₃MB on F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis spores was greater than that of O₃MMB. On observation with SEM, it was revealed that morphological change of F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis spores was caused by O₃MB and O₃MMB, and damage to the spore surfaces by O₃MB occurred sooner than that by O₃MMB. On observation with TEM, it was furthermore confirmed that F. oxysporum f. sp. melonis spores treated with O₃MB induced wavy deformation of cell membrane and the intracellular change different from that with O₃MMB. Therefore, the greater disinfection efficiency of O₃MB was suggested to be caused due to the function of the MB in addition to the oxidative power of O₃.

Keywords

• disinfection
• Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. melonis spores
• ozone microbubbles