The soil-like substrate: problems and perspective of its use for higher plants cultivation in LSS

Being the product of biological mineralization of plant wastes, the soil-like substrate (SLS) contains sufficient amount of nutrients required for plant growth and development. The multiple experiments carried out at the IBP SB RAS demonstrated the SLS fitness for cultivation of higher plant of phototrophic unit in biological-technical life support systems (BTLSS). Together with it, some problems demanding further investigations and solutions had revealed. One of the cardinal problems was interlinked with a relatively low allowance of assimilable nitrogen in comparison with other elements contained in the SLS. Different problems arising under a durational plant cultivation on the SLS in a regime of multi-species uneven-aged conveyer is considered. The work attends considerable attention to analysis of questions occurring at plant cultivation on a reusable SLS that resulted in a yield decrease. The ways of more effective exploitation of the SLS both as a bioreactor for plant wastes mineralization and as a substrate for plant cultivation in a long-functioning BTLSS of an increased closure level of mass exchange processes are suggested.