Vol. 11, Special Issue 6 (2022)

Author(s):
Yasir Hanif Mir, Shakeel Mir, Mumtaz A Ganie, Aanisa Manzoor Shah, Uzma Majeed, MH Chesti, Mehvish Mansoor, Insha Irshad, Ayman Javed, Shazia Sadiq and Fehim Jeelani Wani

Abstract:
The exploding population has aided to the exhaustion of land and water resources which eventually has impacted their availability and also causes degradation of such crucial natural resources, which poses a major threat to the ecological balance and sustainability. In addition, the world population is expected to touch the mark of 9.8 billion by 2050 with simultaneous alarming reduction, deterioration of farming land and loss of fertile soils owing to industrialization, urbanization and climate change scenario, which is a major concern regarding global food security. Moreover, conventional agriculture is facing major challenges of biotic and abiotic stresses that hamper the crop production and hence cause economic loss. Therefore, it becomes necessary to develop novel technologies coupled with advanced production techniques to overcome the present scenario and to secure the future. This review focuses on the soilless farming which could be adopted to address the aforementioned challenges. The different techniques used in soilless farming are hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaponics and various solid media cultures, provided with nutrient rich solution. Soil less farming has high yielding, high nutritional values and economically feasible which could serve as a measure to overcome the threat of global food security, malnutrition concern and also in economically uplifting of the farming community.