MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF SURFACE WATER AND SAFE VEGETABLE PRODUCTION

Abstract

Good microbiological quality of irrigation water has a great importance for health-safety agricultural production. In order to avoid microbiological contamination of crops, the microbiological quality of the water supplying the crops should be monitored. The aim of this paper is investigation of the microbiological quality of the water from 5 channels and one pool from the municipality of Surcin which can potentially be used for irrigation, as well as determination the microbiological quality of the vegetables which are irrigated from the pool. Microbiological parameters of water and vegetables quality are determined by the standard methods prescribed by the Rulebook on parameters of surface waters (MPN method) and Rulebook of food hygiene of production of Republic of Serbia. The values of the tested parameters in one of the five investigated channels, Surcin channel water, were higher in relation to the limit values of the Rulebook. The increased levels of total and fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Shigella were found. The Surcin channel water requires appropriate treatment before its use for crop irrigation. The values of other tested waters did not go beyond the limit values prescribed by the Rulebook, but for the safer agricultural production their treatment is recommended. Microbiological analyzes of vegetables were also done. The total and fecal coliform bacteria, as well as E. coli, Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp., were not detected in the tested vegetable samples.