RU2765243C1 - Method for aeration of plant roots - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: agriculture.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method for hydroponic cultivation of plants. The method involves locating at least part of the roots in a nutrient solution on a horizontal supporting plane for the roots and periodically moving the roots from the nutrient solution into the air. Due to the inclination of the supporting plane for the roots, part of the roots of each plant is simultaneously moved into the air. The roots are moved from the nutrient solution into the air up to the middle of the supporting plane. The supporting plane for the roots is inclined in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction. The layer of nutrient solution is placed at 2 to 20 mm above the supporting plane for the roots. The inclination of the supporting plane for the roots due to the injection of air into the supporting plane for the roots is combined with the injection of air for aeration of the nutrient solution.

EFFECT: method allows for an increase in the efficiency of hydroponic cultivation of plants.

5 cl, 2 dwg

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The invention relates to the field of agriculture and, more specifically, to growing plants in a nutrient medium without soil, i. hydroponics.

Methods for aerating plant roots are known, including the location of at least part of the roots in a nutrient solution and the periodic movement of the roots from the nutrient solution into the air (Patent US No. 13/192730, 07/28/2011. Hydroponic System // Patent US No. 20120023821. 02.02.2012 / Kao Chih-Cheng; Patent of the Russian Federation No. 201610937/13, 03.15.2016. Installation for hydroponic cultivation of plants // Patent of the Russian Federation No. 167134. 2016. Bull. No. 35. / Chernikov A.M.). Moreover, when the roots of plants are raised to the upper position, the roots are extracted from the nutrient solution and the roots undergo intensive gas exchange, and when the roots are lowered to the lower position, the roots are immersed in the nutrient solution.

The closest analogue, adopted by us as a prototype (RF Patent No. 2020105743, 02/06/2020. Method for hydroponic growing of plants, a device for implementing the method and a floating platform of this device // RF Patent No. 2730648. 2020. Bull. No. 24. / Turkin N. I. et al.) includes placing at least a portion of the roots in the nutrient solution on a horizontal root support plane and periodically moving the roots out of the nutrient solution into the air. In this case, the movement of the supporting plane for the roots is carried out in the vertical direction.

The disadvantages of the known methods are the difficulty in the gas exchange of the roots in the phase of being in the nutrient solution due to the low oxygen content in the nutrient solution, especially with an increase in temperature and/or a large crowding of the roots. And also in the rapid wilting of plants in the event of an accident in the phase of the roots being in the air. This leads to a decrease in the efficiency of growing plants.

The technical problem to be solved by the invention is to ensure the technological combination in time of the mode of absorption of the nutrient solution with the enrichment of the roots with oxygen.

The technical result to which the invention is directed is to increase the efficiency of growing plants.

The problem to which the invention is directed is the creation of a new method and device for its implementation, providing the process of simultaneous absorption of the nutrient solution by the plant roots and oxygen enrichment of the roots.

The technical result is achieved by the fact that in the method of aeration of plant roots, including the location of at least part of the roots in the nutrient solution on a horizontal support plane for the roots and the periodic movement of the roots from the nutrient solution into the air, according to the invention, the movement of the roots into the air is carried out by inclination of the supporting plane for the roots.

To improve the efficiency of the method, the movement of the roots from the nutrient solution into the air is carried out to the middle of the supporting plane for the roots.

To improve the efficiency of the method, the inclination of the supporting plane for the roots is carried out in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction.

To improve the efficiency of the method, a layer of nutrient solution is placed 2-20 mm above the supporting plane for the roots.

To improve the efficiency of the method, the inclination of the root support plane due to the injection of air into the root support plane is combined with the injection of air to aerate the nutrient solution.

Due to the feature that the movement of the roots into the air is carried out by tilting the support plane for the roots, this improves the gas exchange of the roots. In addition, less energy is required to tilt the root support plane than to fully raise the root support plane. At the same time, the set of essential features of the method leads to the achievement of non-obvious technical effects, which consist in the fact that part of the roots of each plant is constantly in the nutrient solution, which makes it possible to maintain the viability of plants in case of accidents in any phase of aeration and less often aerate the roots. Thus, these features, together with other features, make it possible to obtain the claimed technical result - an increase in the efficiency of growing plants, therefore, the invention satisfies the condition of inventive step.

Due to the feature that the movement of the roots from the nutrient solution into the air is carried out to the middle of the root support plane, it is possible to alternate the aeration phase and the phase of immersion in the nutrient solution for all the roots located on the root support surface.

Due to the feature that the inclination of the root support plane is carried out in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction, it is possible to use vegetative vessels of different lengths. Moreover, if even several plants are grown in one vegetative vessel (for example, in the form of an elongated box), then when the supporting plane for the roots is tilted in the transverse direction, for each plant, part of the roots is in the air, and the other part of each plant remains in the nutrient solution.

Due to the feature that the nutrient solution is placed 2-20 mm above the supporting plane for the roots, it allows in case of accidents to aerate the nutrient solution through contact with air at the surface of the nutrient solution. In addition, the location of the lower part of the root system in a thin layer of nutrient solution facilitates the process of their movement from solution to air.

By the feature that tilting the root support plane by forcing air into the root support plane is combined with blowing air to aerate the nutrient solution, energy is saved for tilting the root support plane.

The claimed invention can be made from known materials using known means, which indicates compliance with the criterion of patentability "industrial applicability".

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described below in more detail with reference to an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawings, where:

Fig. 1 shows a cross section of a floating platform growing vessel of a plant root aerator;

Fig. 2 shows air blowing through the plant root aerator.

IMPLEMENTATION OF INVENTIONS

In FIG. 1 shows a cross section of a growing vessel with a floating platform of a device for aerating roots of plants, containing a growing vessel 1 with a lid 2, which has an opening 3 for a pot 4 with a substrate 5. In a pot 4 there is a plant 6 with roots 7. When growing one plant 6, the length and the width of the growing vessel 1 can be close, and when growing several plants, the growing vessel 1 can be in the form of an elongated box. In the middle part of the growing vessel 1 there is a supporting plane for roots 8 in the form of a floating platform with a float 9. At the same time, the supporting plane for roots can be made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or other sheet polymer material with a thickness of 0.1 to 3 mm. It is possible to manufacture a floating platform from a flexible predominantly polymeric material capable of being compactly packed, as well as re-assuming a working shape when inflated.

In this example, the float 9 of two strips in the form of elongated parallelepipeds with a cross section of 10×10 mm consists of a hard foamed inert material, such as extruded polystyrene foam. However, the float 9 can be made from a different material, as well as from a combination of different materials. The floating platform is located with a gap of 2-4 mm from the side walls of the growing vessel 1. At the bottom of the floating platform 8 there are 2 isolated compartments 10 and 11. Each compartment is equipped with hollow tubes 12 and 13 for air outlet. Moreover, when growing several plants 6 in one growing vessel 1, isolated compartments 10 and 11 are located along the supporting plane for roots 8 (for example, a floating platform), and when growing one plant, isolated compartments 10 and 11 can be located both in the longitudinal and transverse directions . Due to this, when the supporting plane for the roots 8 is tilted and one part of the roots 7 is moved into the air, the other part of the roots 7 of each plant 6 remains in the nutrient solution 14.

At the bottom of the growth vessel 1 there is a polymer tube (not shown in the figure) for feeding/draining the nutrient solution 14. Near the bottom of the growth vessel 1 there are polymer tubes 15 and 16 for supplying air from the compressor.

At the same time, the bottom part and/or side walls of the floating platform 8 have holes for the inlet/drain of the nutrient solution 14, but impervious to the roots 7. For this, the holes can be covered with an inert material (not shown in Fig. 1), for example, non-woven needle-punched geotextile. In particular cases, the end walls of the floating platform 8 may have large holes permeable to the roots.

The device works as follows. A plant 6 with roots 7 is fixed in the hole 3 of the cover 2 of the vegetation vessel 1 using a pot 4 with a substrate 5 or in another known way, and the floating platform 8 is placed inside the vegetation vessel 1 below the cover 2. The nutrient solution 14 is poured through a polymer tube for supply/drain (not shown in the figure) of the nutrient solution 14 so that at least the lower part of the roots 7 is in the nutrient solution 14. the solution 14 is poured so that the lower part of the substrate 5 is wetted, and after the appearance of the roots 7 the level of the nutrient solution 14 is lowered.

In a particular case, the inclination of the supporting plane 8 for the roots is carried out by alternating the supply of air to the compartments 10 and 11. This also allows additional mixing and aeration of the nutrient solution 14. In particular cases, it is possible to tilt the supporting plane 8 for the roots by other known methods.

When air is supplied (Fig. 2a), air enters compartment 11 through polymer tube 16. From compartment 11, air freely exits through tube 12, but more slowly (due to the small inner diameter of tube 12) than it enters through tube 16. As a result of this there is a tilt of the floating platform 8 to the right. In this case, the roots 7 located above the compartment 11 are in the air and there is an intensive gas exchange of the roots 7 with the air. When the compressor was turned off, the air from the compartment 11 spontaneously escaped through the permanently open tube 12. In this case, the floating platform 8 returned to a horizontal position for 15-30 minutes. Then (Fig. 2b) air is supplied through the polymer tube 15 and enters the compartment 10 as a result of which the floating platform 8 tilts to the left. In this case, the roots 7 located above the compartment 10 are in the air. When the compressor was turned off, air from compartment 10 spontaneously escaped through a permanently open tube 13. The direction of air movement is shown by arrows. When this floating platform 8 returned to a horizontal position. After that, the cycle was repeated.

As the plant grew, the nutrient solution 14 was absorbed by the roots 7 and the floating platform 8 spontaneously lowered. At the same time, the lower part of the roots 8 descended following the floating platform 7, and therefore the lower part of the roots 7 remained in the nutrient solution 14. Accordingly, when the nutrient solution 14 was added to the growing vessel 1, the floating platform 8 rose up along with the lower part of the roots 7. Nutrient solution 14 was added to the growing vessel 1 as it was consumed using a polymer tube for supply/draining (not shown in Fig. 2) of the nutrient solution 14. In this case, the amount of nutrient solution 14 in the vegetation vessel 1 should be sufficient for absorption by the roots 7 until the next addition of the nutrient solution 14. After 2-3 weeks, spent nutrients were added to the nutrient solution 14 or replaced with a new one. After harvesting, the growing vessel 1 and the floating platform 8 were washed and reused.

Example of a specific implementation

For growing lettuce leaf as a vegetative vessel 1, a box made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with a rectangular section of 80×60 mm and a length of 200 mm was used (Fig. 1). The floating platform 8 is made of PVC 10 mm long and 5 mm wide less than the internal space of the box 1. At the bottom of the floating platform 8 there were 2 compartments 10 and 11 isolated from each other in the form of inverted rectangular polymer containers 10 mm high and a width equal to the width of the floating platform 8. The float part 9 of the floating platform 8 is made of extruded polystyrene foam in the form of 2 strips 10×10×190 mm in size. The float part 9 was fixed inside the floating platform 8 above the bottom of the floating platform so that in the working position the bottom of the floating platform 8 was immersed in the nutrient solution 14 by 4-5 mm. Each insulated compartment 10 and 11 was equipped on the outside with hollow tubes 12 and 13 with an inner diameter of 1.5 mm for free air outlet from the compartments. In the lower part of the vegetation vessel 1, a polymer tube was installed for feeding/draining the nutrient solution 14. Near the bottom of the vegetation vessel 1, under compartments 12 and 13, there were polymer tubes 15 and 16 for air supply.

Lettuce seeds were placed in pots 4 with a small amount of coconut substrate 5. After the roots appeared, pots 4 with plants 5 were inserted into the hole 3 in the lid 2 of the growing vessel 1. In this case, the lower part of the roots 7 was located at the bottom of the floating platform 8. As the plants grew, the nutrient the solution was absorbed by the roots 7 and the floating platform 8 went down. In this case, the lower part of the roots 7 followed the floating platform 8. When the nutrient solution 14 was added, the floating platform 8 rose up along with the lower part of the roots 7 due to the carrying capacity of the float 9.

The tilt of the floating platform 8 was carried out in the transverse direction. To do this, the air flow through the tube 16 from the compressor was first directed to the compartment 11. The air filled the compartment 11 and lifted the left edge of the floating platform 8. The filling of the compartment 11 with air occurred despite the fact that the tube 12 was constantly open, because due to the small diameter of the tube 12 less air came out through it than came from the compressor. After the compressor stopped working, the air left the compartment 11 and the platform 8 returned to its original horizontal position. After 20 minutes, the compressor began to supply air to compartment 10 through tube 15, and the right edge of floating platform 8 rose. After the compressor stopped, air left compartment 10 through tube 13, and floating platform 8 returned to a horizontal position. Then the cycle was repeated.

The first watering through the tube was carried out 7-10 days after planting, and the last watering - 3-4 days before harvesting. After harvesting, the growing vessel 1 and the floating platform 8 were washed and reused.

The use of the proposed method in hydroponic growing of plants under conditions of deep-water culture makes it possible to increase the efficiency of growing plants, which is expressed in the following:

1. When lifting part of the roots into the air, another part of the roots of each plant is in the nutrient solution. This provides a technological combination in time of the mode of absorption of the nutrient solution with the enrichment of the roots with oxygen. At the same time, the part of the roots that is in the nutrient solution is better wetted by the nutrient solution.

2. The viability of plants in case of accidents (power outage or compressor breakdown) is maintained at any phase of root aeration.

3. Aeration is carried out less often.

4. Less energy is used to raise the root support plane.

Claims (5)

1. A method for aerating plant roots, which includes arranging at least a part of the roots in a nutrient solution on a horizontal root support plane and periodically moving the roots from the nutrient solution into the air, characterized in that, due to the inclination of the root support plane, they simultaneously move into the air part of the roots of each plant. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the movement of the roots from the nutrient solution into the air is carried out to the middle of the supporting plane. 3. The method according to paragraphs. 1, 2, characterized in that the slope of the supporting plane for the roots is carried out in the longitudinal and/or transverse direction. 4. The method according to paragraphs. 1-3, characterized in that the nutrient solution layer is placed 2-20 mm above the supporting plane for the roots. 5. The method according to paragraphs. 1-4, characterized in that the inclination of the supporting plane for the roots due to the injection of air into the supporting plane for the roots is combined with the injection of air to aerate the nutrient solution.

Images