Abstract Rice is a food crop prone to contamination by toxigenic fungi. Ozone, as a decontamination strategy in the industry, has attractive advantages over traditional food preservation techniques. A contribution to the understanding of ozone as an antifungal agent in rice storage processes is performed in this study. For this, a mathematical model to predict the ozone spread in rice storage in silos was developed. In addition, the effect of ozone application on fungal decontamination and the influence on quality attributes of stored rice were evaluated. This work links the ozone concentration gradient with fungal elimination. A 3D finite element model and experimental measurements determined the ozone concentration throughout the silo. In the inferior portion (where the ozone inlet occurs) showed strong fungi reduction. In this case, an application of 0.393 k g O 3 ⋅ m r i c e − 3 caused 90% fungal elimination. The efficiency of ozone through the silo is different with relation to fungi reduction, which is compatible with the ozone concentration gradient observed in physical model. The ozone treatment was not able to fully reduce the fungi growth in all the portions within the silo, which some fungi strains as Penicillium sp. remained resistant to treatment. With regard to rice quality, starch modifications, lipid peroxidation, protein profile and microstructure alterations did not reflect any significant alteration in the rice treated with ozone. However, during the seed germination, the ozone showed significant inhibition of the coleoptile and seminal root structure in higher exposure time. The use of ozone during the rice storage in silo scale appear as a strong antifungal agent without causing damage to grain quality. However, the efficiency of ozone throughout the silo is different in terms to fungi growth reduction and therefore, it is importance of adopting strategies to homogenize the ozone spread.

中文翻译：

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臭氧在大米储存中的应用：臭氧扩散的数学模型、丝状真菌的去污效果和质量属性

摘要 水稻是一种易受产毒真菌污染的粮食作物。臭氧作为行业中的一种去污策略，与传统的食品保鲜技术相比具有诱人的优势。本研究有助于理解臭氧作为水稻储存过程中的抗真菌剂。为此，开发了一种数学模型来预测筒仓中大米储存中的臭氧扩散。此外，还评估了臭氧应用对真菌去污的影响以及对储存大米品质属性的影响。这项工作将臭氧浓度梯度与真菌消除联系起来。3D 有限元模型和实验测量确定了整个筒仓的臭氧浓度。在下部（臭氧入口发生的地方）显示出强烈的真菌减少。在这种情况下，施用 0.393 kg O 3 ⋅ mrice − 3 可消除 90% 的真菌。臭氧通过筒仓的效率与真菌减少有关，这与物理模型中观察到的臭氧浓度梯度是一致的。臭氧处理不能完全减少筒仓内所有部分的真菌生长，某些真菌菌株如青霉菌属。仍然对治疗有抵抗力。在大米品质方面，淀粉改性、脂质过氧化、蛋白质谱和微观结构的改变并未反映臭氧处理大米的任何显着变化。然而，在种子萌发过程中，臭氧在较高的暴露时间对胚芽鞘和精根结构显示出显着抑制。在筒仓规模的大米储存过程中使用臭氧似乎是一种强大的抗真菌剂，不会对谷物质量造成损害。然而，整个筒仓的臭氧效率在减少真菌生长方面是不同的，因此，采用策略使臭氧扩散均匀是很重要的。