EFFECTS OF ELECTRON BEAM TREATMENT IN SOYBEAN GRAINS ARTIFICIALLY INOCULATED BY PHAKOPSORA PACHYRHIZI

Interactions between plants and pathogenic fungi have always been of extreme interest to humanity, since the worldwide economy is built around the purchase and sale of species vegetables among countries, who can suffer serious damages by pathogenic organisms contamination. Soybean is the most important culture of grains in Brazil, which is the second biggest exporter of this grain and suffers from the attack of the fungi Phakopsora pachyrhizi that causes the Asian Soybean Rust. The infection for P. pachyrhizi causes fast blackout and the premature fall of leaves, hindering the full formation of them. The technology of irradiation processing for nutritive purposes is a process that is safe and effective for reducing the microbial load, insect infestation, and extending the shelf life of perishable products. This study aims to verify the artificially inoculated soybeans behavior when treated by electron beam from a linear accelerator at different radiation doses while observing whether the fungi population was reduced or not. The grains of soybean were irradiated at IPEN-CNEN/SP in an electron accelerator of Radiation Dynamics Inc. USA, 1.5 MeV-25mA at doses 0; 1.0; 2.5; 5.0; 7.5 and 10.0 kGy.