A study on measurement of radiation resistance of Pyronema domesticum sclerotia

Measurements of radiation resistance have been carried out using two strain s of Pyronema domesticum which were isolated from Chinese cotton swab gauze . A "sand-washing" technique was developed to overcome the difficulties whe n harvesting sclerotia spores from cultured plates and preparing spore susp ensions for further use. Three types of microbial preparations, spore suspe nsion, inoculated cotton and spore dot, were exposed to gamma radiation. A dose-survival curve method and a fraction positive method were employed to determine radiation resistance. D-10 values derived from this study are wit hin the range of 2.0-3.0 kGy. Concerns associated with the current study in dicate that further work is needed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.