Electronic nose with polymer-composite sensors for monitoring fungal deterioration of stored rapeseed

Investigations were performed to examine the possibility of using an electronic nose to monitor development of fungal microflora during the first eighteen days of rapeseed storage. The Cyranose 320 device manufactured by Sensigent was used to analyse volatile organic compounds. Each sample of infected material was divided into three parts and the degree of spoilage was measured in three ways: analysis of colony forming units, determination of ergosterol content, and measurement of volatile organic compounds with the e-nose. Principal component analysis was performed on the generated patterns of signals and six groups of different spoilage levels were isolated. An analysis of sensorgrams for a few sensors with a strong signal for each group of rapeseed spoilage was performed. The ratio of the association time to the steady state was calculated. This ratio was different for the low level and the highest level of ergosterol and colony forming units. The results have shown that the e-nose can be a useful tool for quick estimation of the degree of rapeseed spoilage.