Effect of cold plasma treatment on the quantitative compositions of silkworm powder

Atmospheric-pressure plasma technique is a technology for sterilizing agricultural product. In this study, dielectric barrier discharge plasma was applied to silkworm powder for 1 to 5 h with less than 2 ppm of O3 and NO2. Quantitative compositions including proximate contents, mineral and heavy metal contents, fatty acids, vitamins, and DNJ contents were measured. Proximate contents of silkworm powder were protein (57.2%), fat (9.9%), fiber (4.6%), ash (10.1%), and moisture (5.7%). These compositions were not affected by the treatment of plasma. Silkworm powder has 5 abundant minerals potassium (K), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg). Among these minerals, plasma treatment decreased the contents of P and S sharply from 732.3 to 176.8, and 492.7 to 185.2 mg/100g, respectively. Heavy metal contents including lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), and mercury (Hg) were not detected in the silkworm powder. Five vitamins such as ascorbic acid (13.6 mg/100g), riboflavin (5.4 mg/100g), b-carotene (1.8 mg/100g), niacin (0.6 mg/100g), and thiamine (0.4 mg/100g) were not significantly changed by plasma treatment. Silkworm powder is composed of 30 parts saturated fatty acids and 70 parts unsaturated ones. The fatty acid composition was not significantly changed by plasma treatment. The DNJ content of silkworm powder (3.72 mg/g) was also nearly constant within the experimental condition of plasma treatment. © 2019 The Korean Society of Sericultural Sciences Int. J. Indust. Entomol. 38(2), 25-30 (2019)