Hydroponics (Soil-Less Cultivation): A Space Effective and Water Efficient Technology for Sustainable Agriculture

Abstract

Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER), a constituent laboratory of DRDO has started work on soil less cultivation as early as 1980s and successfully standardized and customized technology of hydroponics cultivation of various crops. This customized hydroponics technology ensures year round vegetable cultivation with higher yield. In comparison to conventional agriculture, upto 50% water gets conserved in this system, and there is absolutely no use of pesticide and weedicides, thus ensuring no residual toxicity. Furthermore, multiple crops viz., spinach, coriander, tomato, cucumber, brinjal, parsley, pakchoy, broccoli, strawberry, bitter gourd, sponge gourd, etc. can be grown in a single nutrient solution. The entire system is low cost, low maintenance and environment friendly. Various vegetables along with strawberry and grasses have been grown successfully in hydroponics from Auli to Anatartica. Nutrient composition suitable for wide range of
vegetables has also been developed by the institute. This paper studies the technology of hydroponics in detail along with the efforts made at DIBER which includes the standardization of this technology. It is envisaged that experience gained in successful cultivation of various crops in hydroponics using single nutrient solution at various altitudes
through research stations of this institute like Haldwani (foot hill), Pithoragarh (5000’ msl), Auli (9000’ msl) will help in customization of this technology considering the shrinking land and water resources.

How to cite this article: Agarwal A, Prakash O, Sahay D et al. Hydroponics (Soil-Less Cultivation): A Space Effective and Water Efficient Technology for Sustainable Agriculture. Int J Agric Env Sustain 2019; 1(1): 4-9.