DOI: 10.7291/d1xt3d
title: Seed disinfestation practices to control seed-borne fungi and bacteria in home production of sprouts

description: Data used in a series of experiments on the study of the abundance of
 fungal and bacterial contaminants on seeds used for home production of
 sprouts for human consumption, and the comparison of a series of physical
 and chemical approaches to decontaminating seeds to reduce microbial loads
 on the sprouts. Provides raw data files associated with Figures 1-6, and
 Tables 3 and A1 for the manuscript: Gregory S. Gilbert, Alyssa Diaz, and
 Haylee A. Bregoff.  Seed disinfestation practices to control
 seed-borne fungi and bacteria in home production of sprouts. 
 Accepted for publication in Foods 2023, 12, 747
 https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12040747
description: # Seed disinfestation practices to control seed-borne fungi and
 bacteria in home production of sprouts  <br><br>Gregory S.
 Gilbert, Alyssa Diaz, and Haylee A. Bregoff
 <br><br>---<br><br>Data used in a series of
 experiments on the study of the abundance of fungal and bacterial
 contaminants on seeds used for home production of sprouts for human
 consumption, and the comparison of a series of physical and chemical
 approaches to decontaminating seeds to reduce microbial loads on the
 sprouts.  <br><br>Published in Gilbert, G.S., A. Diaz, and
 H.A. Bregoff. 2023. Seed disinfestation practices to control seed-borne
 fungi and bacteria in home production of sprouts. Foods 12:747
 www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/4/747<br><br>Provide raw data files
 associated with Figures 1-6, and Tables 3 and A1 for manuscript
 <br>Gregory S. Gilbert, Alyssa Diaz, and Haylee A. Bregoff.  Seed
 disinfestation practices to control seed-borne fungi and bacteria in home
 production of sprouted seeds.  Submitted for publication to the MDPI
 journal Foods.   <br><br><br>## Description of the Data
 and file structure<br>Gilbert_2023_onion_data_chem_heat_Table3
  <br>Gilbert_2023_ResponseSurface_Composite_Sterilization_Germ_CFU_Figs2_3_4.csv  <br>Gilbert_2023_Sterilants_HeadToHead_Figs5_6.csv  <br>Gilbert_2023_TableA1_data_seedgeometry_stacked.csv<br>Gilbert_2023_TableA1_volumedata_seedgeometry.csv<br><br>### Gilbert_2023_onion_data_chem_heat_Table3.csv  <br>Data used to prepare Table 3. Experimental treatment using a range of chemical and physical agents to disinfect fungi from onion seeds, each with or without sonication. Three replicates per treatment combination.  <br><br>Agent: Chemical or physical disinfection agent: HCA = Fresh hypochlorous acid (~800 ppm chlorine); sdH2O = sterile deionized water control; Bleach = 0.6% NaOCl; Ethanol 70% = 70% ethyl alcohol; GAA 5% = 5% glacial acetic acid; Hydrogen Peroxide = 3% H2O2; Boiling = 1 min boiling; 55C 5min = held 55°C for 5 min; 55C 10min = held 55°C for 10 min; 55C 30min = held 55°C for 30 min; 70C 5min = held 70°C for 5 min; 70C 10min = held 70°C for 10 min; 70C 30min = held 70°C for 30 min  <br>Sonication:  Indicates whether treatment was just Agitated or held in water bath Sonication   <br>Rep: Replication number, 1 to 3<br>Total_seeds: Total number of seed in the treatment replicate<br>Seeds_with_Fungi_day3: Number of seeds showing fungal growth after 3 days<br>Germination_day7: Number of seeds germinated after 7 days<br>FungalGrowth_day3_percent: Percentage of seeds showing fungal growth after 3 days<br>Germination_day7_percent: Percentage of seeds germinated after 7 days<br><br><br>### Gilbert_2023_ResponseSurface_Composite_Sterilization_Germ_CFU_Figs2_3_4.csv  <br>Data used to prepare Figure 2, 3, and 4.  Data collected for factorial treatments of chemical agent concentration and time of soak of broccoli seeds to evaluate the effectiveness of disinfecting bacteria from the surface of seeds and the effect of treatment on seed germination. There were 4 replicates for each agent/time combination. For Figures 2 and 3, all the factorial combinations were used to created response surface graphs separately for each agent for Germination as a function of agent concentration and soak duration and log10(CFU bacteria + 10) per 200 seeds as a function of agent concentration and soak duration.  For Figure 4, selected the most effective concentrations and durations for each agent that did not reduce germination, and used a ANOVA and Tukey's HSD test to compare means. Those best 5 treatments were control_0%_15min, bleach_10%_15min, h2o2_12%_15min, vinegar_1%_15min, and hca_100%_15min. <br><br>Date: Date on which treatments were applied<br>Treatment: Chemical agent used in seed treatment: H2O2 = hydrogen peroxide (stock = 30%); Bleach = Clorox bleach (stock = 6% NaOCl); Vinegar = Heinz white vinegar (stock = 5% acetic acid); HCA = freshly prepared hypochlorous acid (stock = 800 ppm chlorine)<br>Percent: Concentration of chemical agent: of H2O2 of hydrogen peroxide; Of Clorox bleach for Bleach; Of acetic acid for vinegar; of stock fresh HCA for hypochlorous acid<br>Minutes: Duration of soak treatment in minutes<br>Plate_dilution: Dilution used in Trypticase Soy Agar for counting bacterial colonies<br>CFU_plate: Number of bacterial colonies that developed on Trypticase Soy Agar plate<br>Germ_Total: Number of seeds used in each replicate<br>Germ_Seeds: Number of seeds that germinated after 5 days <br>Germ_Perc:  Percentage of seeds that germinated after 5 days<br>CFU_200seeds: back calculation of number of colony forming units of bacteria per 200 seeds<br><br><br>### Gilbert_2023_Sterilants_HeadToHead_Figs5_6.csv  <br>Data used to produce Figure 5 and 6; head-to-head comparison of effects of six disinfection treatments on fungal and bacterial loads on germinating seeds and on seed germination.  Seeds are broccoli, and treatments were applied for 5 and 15 minutes. There were five replicates of each treatment per experiment, and the experiment was conducted two times (treated as blocks) for each time duration. Data are used in Figure 5 and 6. <br><br>Experiment: Experiments 1 and 3 are for 5-min and 2 and 4 are for 15-min repeated experiments<br>Start_Date: Date on which treatments were applied<br>Treatment: Chemical or physical treatment: Control = sterile dionized water; Sonic = bath sonication in sterile deionized water; 55 C = held at 55°C; Bleach = 10% diluted Clorox to 0.6% NaOCl; HCA = fresh full-strength hypochlorous acid (~800 ppm chlorine); vinegar = Heinz white vinegar diluted to 3% acetic acid<br>Perc: The percent concentration of each chemical treatment, as described in Treatment<br>Time_Min: Duration of treatment in minutes<br>dilution: Serial dilution plate used for counting colonies bacteria on TSA plates<br>TSA_CFU_plate: Number of colonies of bacteria growing on Trypticase Soy Agar plate at dilution<br>MEA_CFU_plate: Number of colonies of fungi growing on Malt Extract Agar plate at dilution 2<br>Germ_Total: Number of seeds used in each replicate<br>Germ_Seeds: Number of seeds that germinated after 5 days <br>Germ_Perc:  Percentage of seeds that germinated after 5 days<br>CFU_200seeds_bact: back calculation of number of colony forming units of bacteria per 200 seeds<br>CFU_200seeds_fungi: back calculation of number of colony forming units of fungi per 200 seeds<br><br><br>### Gilbert_2023_TableA1_data_seedgeometry_stacked.csv  <br>Geometric data collection on 100 seeds for each of 14 seed cultivars using ImageJ on 1600 DPI scan of seeds. Data are summarized in Table A1.  <br><br>seed: Seed number identifier<br>Area_mm2: cross-sectional area of seed in square mm from photo<br>Length_mm: major axis length of seed in mm<br>Width_mm: minor axis length of seed in mm<br>Circularity: circularity measure from ImageJ<br>FeretDistance: Feret's Distance from Image J<br>species: seed species.  Species include:<br>Onion    Allium cepa<br>Broccoli    Brassica oleracea var. italica<br>Radish, China Rose    Raphanus sativus<br>Lentils    Lens culinaris<br>Alfalfa    Medicago sativa<br>Peas    Pisum sativum<br>Clover    Trifolium pratense<br>Adzuki bean    Vigna angularis<br>Mung bean    Vigna radiata<br>Barley    Hordeum vulgare<br>Millet    Panicum miliaceum<br>Wheat, hard red spring     Triticum aestivum<br>Wheat, hard white     Triticum aestivum<br>Buckwheat groats    Fagopyrum esculentum<br><br>### Gilbert_2023_TableA1_volumedata_seedgeometry.csv  <br>Geometric data collection on 100 seeds for each of 14 seed cultivars using water displacement in tubes. Data are summarized in Table A1 as well as used in conjunction with data from Table 1 in paper to generate Figure 1. <br>Species: seed species.  Same as in Gilbert_2023_TableA1_data_seedgeometry_stacked.csv<br>Rep: Replicate measurement of seed volume<br>TubeType: One of two tube types used: GT = glass tube or MCT = Large centrifuge tube<br>StartHeight_mm: Starting height of liquid added to tube in mm<br>Num_seeds: Number of seeds added to liquid<br>FinalHeight_mm: Height of liquid after adding the seeds <br>CalcstartVolume: Volume of initial water based on standard curve <br>CalcFinalVolume: Volume of water + seeds based on standard curve<br>Seedvolume: Difference between final volume and start volume = total volume of seeds<br>VolumeperSeed_mm3: average volume per seed in cubic mm<br><br>Standard curves used for the two tubes <br>GT    Volume_µL = 248.542*Height_mm - 1182.536<br>MCT    Volume_µL = 50.5455*Height_mm - 176.803