Abstract:
The study entitled “Fabrication and performance evaluation of vertical farming structure
for homesteads” was taken up to fabricate a vertical farming structure as per the dimension of
flat balcony in KCAET and to compare the performance of crops under vertical farming structure
and potted cultivation. For comparing the performance of plants under vertical farming structure
and potted cultivation climatic parameters as well as biometric observations were made. The
analysis of climatic parameters suggested that adoption of VFS can modify the climatic
parameters (temperature, humidity etc) considerably to provide a favorable climatic condition.
The number of leaves, stem girth, plant height and yield varied between the treatments. T2 had
the best performance in VFS compared to T1 and T3. The analysis of yield data showed that the
highest yield was obtained for the treatment T2 of VFS. In case of potted cultivation, T1 showed
best performance than T2 and T3. The study revealed that T2 (cocopeat and vermicompost) is
the best rooting media for growing crops in VFS compared to T1 (cocopeat and cowdung) and
T3 (cocopeat, cowdung, vermi compost and soil). The study suggested that VFS can be
recommended more precisely for flat balconies in urban areas and as a substitute to the
conventional farming practice on limited land area and cocopeat and vermicompost is the best
rooting media for growing crops in VFS.
