Abstract:
A study was conducted to develop a vertical farming structure suitable for
rainshelters for homestead cultivation of Kerala and to evaluate the performance of
the developed structure.
The newly designed and fabricated Vertical Farming
Structure (VFS I) was compared with two existing structures, viz, VFS II and VFS III.
Amaranthus of CO-1 variety was selected for the study. Combination of Sand: Soil:
Cowdung: Vermicompost in the ratio 1: ½: 1: ½ respectively on volume basis was
selected as the growing media. Irrigation was provided through drip irrigation. The
performance of the vertical farming structures was compared by assessing the climatic
parameters (temperature, RH, light intensity and PAR) and biometric observations
(height and number of branches) and yield. Maximum temperature (37.28°C) was
recorded during 1:00 PM and lower temperature (24.1°C) was recorded during early
morning hours. Higher relative humidity (98.9%) was recorded during early morning
hours and lower relative humidity (50.59%) was recorded during afternoon hours.
Light intensity and PAR were maximum in VFS I (49000 lux and 1032 µmol m -2 s -1 )
followed by VFS II and VFS III respectively. Statistical analysis was done by two-
way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with replications using SPSS 16.0. The results
from statistical analysis showed that the light intensity and PAR at 8:00 AM, 1:00 PM
and yield per plant showed a significant difference between the structures and tiers
individually and also in combination at 5% level of significance. Light intensity and
PAR at 5:00 PM, height and number of branches significantly varied between structure
and tier individually. Maximum B-C ratio of 1.33 was obtained for VFS I, followed
by 1.19 and 1.13 for VFS II and VFS III respectively. The positive values of NPW in
all the three cases indicated that the project is viable. The overall results of the study
revealed that the VFS I showed better performance in all aspects compared to VFS II
and VFS III. The study recommended rainshelter cultivation of vegetables with
facility for utilising vertical space using the vertical farming structure and drip
irrigation. The developed structure is suitable for increasing the production from the
homesteads of Kerala.
