Emulated Plasma Technology with Sodium Carbonate Treatment to Control Crown Rot Disease in ‘Hom Thong’ Bananas.

The postharvest treatment with emulated plasma technology combined with food preservatives to control crown rot disease caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae on ‘Hom Thong’ bananas was investigated. The experiments were separated into three parts. First, the antifungal effect of food preservatives in vitro test, sodium carbonate (SC), and potassium sorbate (PS) at 0 (control), 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% (w/v) amended in PDA was observed. The mycelium growth was significantly inhibited by 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0% SC (w/v). Second, the effect of emulated plasma-activated water (EPAW) at different exposure times, 0 (control), 20, 40, and 60 min, on the severity of crown rot on bananas was examined. After 6 days of storage at ambient temperature, the disease severity of all EPAW treatments was less than that of untreated bananas. Third, treatment of EPAW at 20 min was selected to combine with 1% SC to obtain the emulated plasma-sodium carbonate solution (EPAS-1% SC). The result showed that EPAS-1% SC treatment could reduce the crown rot disease severity (2.67 scores) in comparison to the untreated one (3.83 scores), and it displayed similar results to those using fungicide one (2.3 scores) during ambient temperature storage for 6 days. Therefore, the result implies that EPAS-1% SC treatment can potentially control crown rot disease in ‘Hom Thong’ bananas.