ABSTRACT
This study aims to examine the effectiveness of novel x-ray computer tomography (CT) in capturing 3D imaging of fungal mycelial growth and development. Additionally, these images were used to construct 3D digital representations of the mycelial network for the purpose of extracting physical characteristics of the colonization process. Throughout the colonization process, the samples were taken for temporal CT scanning where the identified mycelium was characterized through regional analysis and surface determination with the VGStudio Max CT scanning software. The results showed that computer tomography can successfully characterize the mycelial colonization of Pleurotus ostreatus in small substrate batches by collecting both visual representations and specific material information such as volume, surface area and porosity. Ultimately, the monitoring application showed great potential for nondisruptive temporal imaging, and a subsequent methodology was designed to outline how future research could incorporate this technique in furthering the understanding of mycelial colonization for bio composite development.
