Hypochlorite Application for Controlling Algae Biofilm Formation, Microorganisms and Tomato Production in Recirculating Systems

Physical and chemical disinfection methods are used or are under investigation in greenhouse facilities to minimize the occurrence of pathogens and the application of pesticides in recirculating systems. Since the most of these methods differ in their effectiveness, more investigation is needed to produce healthy plants in a sustainable way. Therefore, the present study is focused on the identification of interactions between hypochlorite (ClO−) used as a disinfectant for a recirculating system and algae formation, spread of microorganisms, as well as plant development. As such, on-site produced potassium hypochlorite (1 % KClO) solution were supplemented using proportional injection control once a week for 90 min, as a disinfectant, into a recirculating tomato production system (NFT) until a free chlorine concentration of 1 mg L−1 (D I) and 2 mg L−1 (D II) were reached, respectively.