Influence of Protected Cultivation Structures on Vegetable Crops

Abstract

Protected farming is a new technology that is being utilized to grow high-value crops like flowers, vegetables, and other perishable commodities. In contemporary agriculture, protected structures offered an enormous chance for greater productivity and production. Protected cultivation, which is the most effective way to deal with climatic variation provide favourable environment for crop growth thereby achieving greater yield and high-quality produce. Protected cultivation structures such as polyhouses, low tunnels, shadow shade net houses, and green houses are frequently used for crop cultivation. Further, the vegetables grown under these structures possess better quality, decreased pesticide residue and higher yields than the ones grown under open-field conditions. As compared to open field cultivation, the reduction in irrigation water requirement was 35.6 % for shadow hall, 35.2 % for polyhouse and 25.5 % shade net house cultivation. Shadow hall is most suited for the cultivation of vegetables as depicted by higher growth and yield parameters, followed by polyhouse, shade net house. Thus, in terms of enhancing agricultural production, soil fertility, profitability, and sustainability, among other aspects, protected structures-based farming is more beneficial than open field conditions. The analysis of the evaluation showed that compared to open environments, the gross and net returns under protected structures (protective cultivation) were much greater.