Effects of high voltage atmospheric cold plasma treatment on microbial diversity of tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) fillets treated during refrigeration

Fresh tilapia fillets are susceptible to perish due to the microbial contamination during storage. High voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP), a non-thermal technology, can effectively inactivate various microorganism. The aim of this study was to identify the microorganism amount and diversity changes of fresh tilapia fillets during refrigerator storage after HVACP treatment. Samples were treated at 70 kV for 1, 3 and 5 min by dielectric discharge barrier (DBD) cold plasma then stored at 4 degrees C. During the storage, amounts of Total viable bacteria (TVB), Psychrophilic bacteria, Pseudomonas spp., Lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, H2S-producing bacteria were measured, and microbial diversity of samples was analyzed. Long treatment time showed a great reduction effect on amounts of all bacteria. When tilapia fillets were treated at 70 kV for 5 min and stored for 12 d, amounts of TVB, Pseudomonas spp. and Enterobacteriaceae were 7.15, 6.99 and 4.23 log CFU/g, respectively, which were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those in control group. High-throughput sequencing results showed that microbial diversity of tilapia fillets treated by HVACP was fluctuated as storage time extend, microbial species richness was decreased during first two days, and increased to the peak till 9 d, then decreased again. The dominant bacteria in fresh samples were Acinetobacter, Macrococcus, Pseudomonas, and Lactococcus. The abundance of both Acinetobacter and Macrococcus were decreased gradually during storage, while the abundance of Lactococcus was increased at first 3 d then decreased. After 12 d of storage, the dominant bacteria were transformed into Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, and Kurthia.

Automated summary

This study aimed to investigate the effects of high voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP) treatment on the microbial amount and diversity of fresh tilapia fillets during refrigerator storage. The results showed that long treatment time effectively reduced the amount of all bacteria, and the treated fillets had significantly lower microbial amounts compared to the control group during storage. Furthermore, microbial species and abundance varied with storage time.