We began our second trial of testing multiple VOCs against P. destructans. For this experiment we used I-plates that contained our fungus and a glass slide that had a specific amount of one of our VOCs on it. We placed three of these I-plates into large jars (with lids) and sealed the jars with parafilm. The large jars were then placed in our incubator for three weeks at 15oC allowing our controls enough time to grow. Time was an essential aspect in this experiment because it allows our VOCs to properly volatilize with its max potential.
After the three weeks, we took our final measurements of the mycelial growth as well as pictures and prepared to analyze the data. We were extra cautious with disposing of our fungus by sterilizing our Petri dishes and equipment first and then going forth with the disposal of our experiment materials. Sterilization is necessary in order to prevent the spread of this fungus and ensure no more harm is brought to the bat population/environment.
Our results indicated that all the VOCs worked better against P. destructans at 15oC. The control plates gave us a useful reference as to how effective the VOCs were and at which concentration they were deemed lethal. Once we removed the plates from the VOC exposure the plugs were subcultured and the true effects of the VOCs tested were observed.
The VOC we began with was the mushroom alcohol, 1-octen-3-ol, which did not show as much promise as the others we tested. One, in particular, was fungicidal at 10 and 15˚C at 5, 10, 50, and 100 ppm. We also observed it was still fungicidal at 50 and 100 ppm at 5˚C but only fungistatic at 5 and 10 ppm. We decided to continue studying the effects of this VOC, which we refer to as our VOC for publication reasons.
