Executive Summary : | Objective: 1. To design and develop a retractable roof system for Poly house
2. To design and development of drives and controller for retractable roof system
3. Installation of one Poly-house. Summary: The cultivation of polyhouse crops is the most intensive form of Agricultural and horticultural production. For instance, the production per cultivated unit area of a polyhouse is 10 times higher to that of an open field crop. It is expected that demand for better health care continue to grow with rising population. Under these circumstances, commercial cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) holds promise. On the other hand, majority of MAPs opted for crop-diversification in the wake of low-volume and high-value crops are for medicinal or aromatic properties. Thus, it can be economical to grow under controlled poly-house conditions. In this project four crops i.e. Monk fruit, Saffron, scented geranium and rosemary are targeted. Rosmarinus officinalis: Rosmarinus officinalis is a perennial evergreen shrub belongs to the family Lamiaceae. Essential oils of rosemary dominated by 1,8-cineole, a-pinene, camphene, a-terpineol, and borneol as principal constituents. It has antibacterial, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive, antioxidant, antithrombotic, antiulcerogenic, improving cognitive deficits, antidiuretic, and hepatoprotective effects. It thrives best in sandy to clay loam soil with a pH range of 5.5 to 8.0. and can tolerate drought and frost conditions within an altitude range from 1500 up to 3000 m amsl. It is generally propagated through cutting. Seedlings need to be raised in nursery for three months duration. Therefore, seedling raising should be planned three months ahead of the commencement of the rainy season. Hardening operation should start two to three weeks before transplanting. Six months old after transplanting can be harvested. Saffron: Saffron (Crocus sativus) is a perennial plant of the family Iridaceae. It is endemic to the Mediterranean region. It has been used as drug, textile dye, flavoring and coloring of food products, culinary adjunct, and also for religious purposes. The main constituents of saffron are the carotenoids crocetin. It thrives best in warm sub-tropical climate, where frost and rains are absent during flowering with friable, loose, low-density, well-watered, and well-drained clayey, calcareous soils having high organic content. It is propagated through daughter corms produced from the mother corms. Best time of planting the corm vary from region to region but mid-May and especially early in June considered best. Monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii): The monk fruit, family of Cucurbitaceae, has been used for centuries in Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of cough, sore throat, and minor stomach and intestinal troubles. However, monk fruit is known now throughout the world for its intense sweet taste, and it has been used as a non-caloric natural sweetener in some countries. The sweet taste of monk fruit results primarily from the content of a group of cucurbitane-type triterpene glycosides known as mogrosides, and the extracted mixture of mogrosides is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose or cane sugar. Among them, mogroside-V is extremely sweet. The purified mogroside-V, has been approved as a high-intensity sweetening agent in Japan and the non-caloric sweet taste extract is a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) non-nutritive sweetener, flavor enhancer, and food ingredient in the USA. Nowadays, extracts of Monk fruit are being used commercially in soft drinks. The global market for monk fruit estimated to generate US$ 379.4 million revenue by the end of 2026. Scented Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) : Geranium is a highly adaptable, draught talent, perennial aromatic herb cultivated under varied agroclimatic conditions in
India. Rose geranium is native to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The plant is also cultivated in other parts of Africa, Europe, Asia and North America.and India. In India rose scented geranium was first time introduced in Neelgiri and Shevroy hills of South India during early 20th century and subsequently it has been circulated in the different parts of India. In India only, the requirement of Scented Geranium oil is approximately 200 tonnes per year while the annual production of oil in India is less than 20 tonnes and remaining requirement is met by importing the Scented Geranium oil. However, there is an urgent need to increase the area under Scented Geranium cultivation to reduce the import cost. Thus, controlled environment is required to meet the demand of quality planting material for large scale cultivation. A retractable-roof polyhouse will be having the roof that can be opened and closed. The grower can open the roof when weather conditions are favorable to plant Growth and can be closed the roof when the crops need protection. When the roof is open, a polyhouse of this type provides plants with increased light levels and fresh air. A retractable-roof polyhouse can be used to prepare outdoor crops for the elements before they leave the polyhouse. Other advantages include reduced disease problems (because of better ventilation), reduced irrigation (because of rainfall), and more effective temperature control. |