Vol. 9, Issue 8 (2020)

Author(s):
Deepak Kumar and Satendra Kumar

Abstract:
Vegetables cultivation in open fields is increasingly limited by weather extremes and water shortages, in addition to insect-pests and different soil-borne diseases. Consequently more pesticides are being used for protecting the crops which deteriorate the vegetable quality by the presence of residues. In order to increase productivity, fruit quality as well as quality yield and protected cultivation can play an important role as an alternative and supplemental production system to conventional open field production. In addition, the biotic stresses also do not allow successful production of vegetables like capsicum, cucumber, tomato, hot pepper, okra/ladies finger, cauliflower, cabbage, leafy vegetables etc. in the fields mainly during rainy and winter season. In spite of the great importance of vegetable crops, it faces a lot of restraints like temperature stress, photostress, moisture stress and weeds growth, nutrients deficiency in the soil, excessive wind velocity and atmospheric CO₂. Different protected cultivation structures having different temperature, humidity, UV radiation ranges and also having different cost involvement in construction of structure which may results the production of vegetables with distinct advantage of good quality fruits, productivity and favorable market price to the growers/farmers. Intense heat and high incidence of UV rays in dry months reduce the quality of leafy vegetables in open which otherwise very good in protected structures. Protected cultivation has great scope to achieve self-sufficiency in vegetable sector even with less area. These structures are constructed using a UV stabilized agro-shade net (35–70% shade) materials for creating partial shade condition inside the structure to favour the growth and development of partial shade requiring crops or to protect crop from scorching heat during hot/summer months. The partial shade effect helps in fast and better growth of leafy vegetables besides reducing the evapo-transpiration loss of water. Low cost shade net for high value leafy vegetables like coriander, lettuce, spinach, chenopodium, fenugreek, amaranth, mustard green etc. This also creates environmental concern as the limited soil and fresh water bodies are get contaminated. The net house/poly house can be used for year round cultivation of crops such as capsicum, tomato, okra, cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal, beans, parthenocarpic cucumber and other cucurbits with reduced incidence of insect-pest and diseases and consequent low chemical residues on the produces. The cost can be reduced drastically by the use of local wood materials like bamboo/wooden poles. Vegetable growers can substantially increase their income by protected cultivation of vegetables in off-season as the vegetables produced during their normal season generally do not fetch good returns due to large availability of these vegetable in the markets. Protected cultivation enables us to grow vegetables in the off-season and also to extend the vegetable growing seasons for a much longer period than is possible under open field conditions.