Comparison Of Nutritive Values Due To Impact Of Controlled Environment And Fertilizer Application On Vegetable Crops

Abstract

Polyhouse cultivation, with its ability to provide controlled environmental conditions, presents a promising avenue for optimizing the growth and nutritional quality of vegetable crops. This research project delves into the effects of controlled environmental conditions and specific fertilizer applications on the nutritional composition of various vegetable crops within a polyhouse setting. In the pursuit of sustainable agriculture, minimizing the use of chemical fertilizers is paramount for ensuring the safety of crop production. To address this, our research investigates the combined impact of bio and chemical fertilizers. We explore four fertilizer combinations: 100% irrigation with no fertilizer, 100% bio fertilizer (consisting of coco peat, mushroom compost, cow dung, bone waste, and bone marrow waste at 100g), a blend of 75% bio fertilizer (75g) and 25% chemical fertilizer (DAP di-ammonium phosphate granules), and an equal mix of 50g bio fertilizer and chemical fertilizer. Prior to field preparation, meticulous spacing calculations were performed, resulting in the cultivation of a 75 sq. m area with 16 meticulously prepared seed beds. The seed beds are formed in such a way that they are raised to a height of 0.3m and the upper face of a bed is of dimension 2.29 m and the base length is of 2.4m and the base breadth is of 1.2m. This research is taken place under protected cultivation (polyhouse) where the vegetable crops such as Tomato, Cauliflower, Brinjal and Cabbage are been cultivated. The nutritive value of the vegetable crops was compared for all the mentioned combinations thereby determining the efficiency of each combination.