Vol. 11, Special Issue 12 (2022)

Author(s):
Shivanjali D Bhosale, Mohod AG, Khandetod YP, Dhande KG and Patil MB

Abstract:
Modern concepts for vertical farming make use of indoor farming methods and controlled- environment agriculture (CEA) technology, allowing for the artificial control of all environmental parameters, including light, humidity, and temperature. The objective of this research is to study the solar photovoltaic assisted lighting and water circulation system for indoor crop production. Before developing the system for research, the photobiology of indoor crop production at Dapoli (17° 45’ N and 73° 26’ E) was studied. According to all recorded parameters in photobiology study, it is concluded that there is need to provide solar photovoltaic assisted lighting (i.e. LED grow lights) for indoor crop production to fulfil as much as possible requirement of Photosynthetically Active Radiations (PAR). This photobiology is suitable for long day plants like spinach, basil, etc. On the basis of this study, the vertical farming system with solar photovoltaic assisted lighting and water circulation system was developed and evaluated. Hydroponic vertical farming system with Deep Flow Technique (DFT) was developed. Evaluation of system reveals that the SPV assisted light of 32.5 µmol/m2/s was provided for the period of an extra 5 hrs than the indoor system without light. All the crop growth parameters measured for treatments T1 (Indoor plant in top row with lighting) and T2 (Indoor plant in bottom row with lighting) were greater than the treatments T3 (Indoor plant in top row without lighting) and T4 (Indoor plant in bottom row without lighting) due to the provided supplementary lighting and increased photoperiod.