Laser light on the mycoflora content in maize seeds

Hernández Aguilar Claudia, Rodríguez Páez Carmen Liliana, Domínguez Pacheco Flavio Arturo, Hernández Anguiano Ana María, Cruz Orea Alfredo, Carballo Carballo Aquiles

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Laser light has many applications in agriculture, but there is still much work to provide scientific evidence of its potential use as an alternative for the control of diseases originating in the seed, especially for fungi that are internal. In this study, we investigated the effects of low intensity laser irradiation on the mycoflora content in maize seeds. Five irradiation times (30, 60, 180, 300 and 600 s) and two intensity levels (I1 = 16.3 e and I2 = 4.6 mW/cm2) were applied by using a diode laser (λ = 655 nm and power of 27.4 mW). Consequently, the laser irradiation significantly diminished the quantity of seeds infected with Fusarium spp. fungi. The combination of I1 and I2, at 5 min of irradiation time, diminished (p ≤ 0.05) the quantity of infected seeds with Fusarium spp. up to 61.11% when compared with the control seed (no irradiation). From these results, we concluded that low intensity laser irradiation could be an alternative method to control seed transmitted diseases in maize seed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9280-9288
Number of pages9
JournalAfrican Journal of Biotechnology
Volume10
Issue number46
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Aug 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Diode laser
  • Fungi
  • Fusarium
  • Low intensity laser
  • Zea mays L.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Laser light on the mycoflora content in maize seeds'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this