Actual problems of safe disinfection of hydroponic substrates of agricultural complexes

The need to meet the needs of the population for food leads to an increase in agricultural output by hydroponic cultivation. The problems of microbiological infection and disinfection of complex surfaces of hydroponic substrates (for example, expanded clay) requires simple and reliable processing technologies and quality control. The presence of roughness and porosity of materials leads to an endless fight against surface contamination, since after the initial infection of the pores of the coating, it is practically impossible to wash the microorganisms that have penetrated the complex structure. Expanded clay pores and nutritional compositions individually selected for each culture are ideal conditions for the development of bacteriological conglomerates and symbioses; in some neglected cases, this leads to the need to extract the substrate due to the irreversible growth of accumulations of microorganisms and the risk of complete infection of technological lines. The aim of the research was to develop a safe method for the decontamination of hydroponic substrates of agricultural complexes. To achieve this, the following tasks were identified: artificial infection of expanded clay granules with conglomerates and symbioses of microorganisms characteristic of hydroponic substrates; study of the biofilm structure of infected granules; development of a method for disinfecting hydroponic substrates by the example of expanded clay granules. According to the results of this work, it can be concluded that the use of electrochemically activated solutions, using the Anolyte ANK SUPER washing and disinfecting solution as an example, allows partial washing of certain groups of microorganisms and their conglomerates, however, a thorough analysis of cleaning methods, including the selection of hydrodynamic washing conditions, is required. In industrial use, this disinfection method together with the evaluation of effectiveness by electron microscopy can give a positive effect.