Fabrication and performance evaluation of vertical farming structure for homesteads

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.