IMPACT OF 1 MeV ACCELERATED ELECTRONS ON GROWTH AND SURVIVAL RATE OF ESCHERICHIA COLI BACTERIA AND ASPERGILLUS FUMIGATUS FUNGUS

Abstract

A study was carried out on the effect of 1 MeV accelerated electrons on the survival rate of suspensions of Escherichia coli bacteria and suspensions of Aspergillus fumigatus fungi at various initial concentrations and followed by plating on various nutrient media after irradiation. The samples were irradiated in the dose range from 0.15 kGy to 4 kGy. It was established that the concentrations of viable bacterial and fungal cells decreased nonlinearly with radiation dose. The doses required to reduce populations by a factor of 10 ranged from 0.20 kGy to 0.56 kGy for Escherichia coli at initial concentrations of 10 3 CFU/g to 10 5 CFU/g when plated on agar Thioglycollate medium; 1.28 kGy and 1.23 kGy for Aspergillus fumigatus at an initial concentration of 10 6 CFU/g when plated on Sabouraud medium and Modified Czapek-Dox medium, respectively.