eChapters

Introduction

Crop models can be broadly classified into two categories: dynamic or process-based crop simulation models (CSMs), and reduced form statistical models. Since simulation models are based on various plant-related processes, they develop or alter in tandem with plant growth (Chetty 2009); as a result, they are inherently nonlinear (Olmstead 2009). To run, calibrate, and validate, they require a significant amount of date input. However, statistical models are helpful in situations where there is a lack of data because they describe the relationships between a subset of variables while keeping the others constant. (Chetty 2009).

1.1 Introduction

The greenhouse industry is rapidly growing, particularly in mild climates, and is crucial for providing access to fresh and clean food. Greenhouses provide an optimal climate for crops to grow and protect them from outside pests. Furthermore, greenhouse production has the potential to reduce water waste and implement integrated protection and production (IPP). It is essential to consider the environmental impact of protected cultivation, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a valuable tool for evaluating these impacts.

2.1 Introduction

Greenhouses are used mainly for cultivating vegetables and fruits during the off-season to provide favorable growing conditions. Proper management of the greenhouse structure is necessary to create these off-seasonal favorable conditions for plants. Factors like site selection, location, atmospheric conditions, cropping pattern, and structure of the greenhouse are considered during the development of a greenhouse. The National Committee on the use of Plastics in Agriculture (NCPA-1982) suggests conducting site-specific greenhouse technology trials before implementation across the nation.

3.1 Introduction

Greenhouses are buildings with a controlled environment that facilitate plant culture and development. They offer protection from adverse external weather conditions, high temperatures, strong winds, and pests, while providing an ideal environment for plant growth. The construction of a greenhouse involves the use of various materials to ensure its structural stability, longevity, light transmission, and insulation. The different components of the greenhouse, such as the frame, flooring, and covering, are constructed using different materials such as wood, aluminum, steel, concrete, soil, gravel, and more.

4.1 Introduction

Experts predict that the global population will exceed 9.6 billion by 2050. This, coupled with the rise of urbanization, the scarcity of arable land, and the destructive effects of climate change, poses significant challenges for agriculture and food production worldwide. To combat these challenges, new horticultural research techniques must be implemented to enhance productivity and efficiency, improve nutrition, and ensure food security, especially during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. Greenhouse technology has made remarkable strides in recent years, allowing for the manipulation of internal growth elements like temperature, light intensity, and CO2 concentration to create optimal growing conditions

Solar heat plays a pivotal role in the functioning of greenhouses, serving as a primary energy source that influences the internal climate crucial for plant growth. The absorption of solar radiation by the greenhouse covering material initiates a complex process of heat transfer, involving conduction, convection, and radiation. This solar energy, once absorbed, contributes to elevating the temperature within the greenhouse, creating a favorable environment for plants. A fundamental understanding of solar heat dynamics is essential for optimizing greenhouse design and operational efficiency.

6.1 Introduction

Greenhouses play an essential role in modern agriculture and horticulture by providing a regulated environment for plant development. To ensure optimal growing conditions and maximum yields, it’s crucial to maintain the temperature inside these structures effectively. This leads us to the fascinating subject of “Heating and Cooling of Greenhouses,” where we investigate the delicate balance between temperature, humidity, and ventilation to promote plant health and production. With greenhouses, growing seasons can be extended, a broader range of crops can be grown, and even plants that would not do well in the local environment can thrive.

7.1 Introduction

The practice of greenhouse management has become a crucial method for extending growing seasons, improving crop quality, and maximizing yield potential in modern agriculture. Shedding and ventilation are critical elements that determine the effectiveness of greenhouse operations. They are pivotal in creating a delicate ecology where plants can find shelter in a controlled environment that protects them from the elements while enabling exact changes to temperature, humidity, and light.

8.1 Introduction

The management of greenhouse environments has become crucial in modern agriculture due to increasing concerns about climate change and the urgent need for sustainable farming practices. Greenhouses, also known as “controlled environment agriculture” facilities, have revolutionized the way we grow food by extending the growing season and allowing us to cultivate a wide range of plants in various climates. They achieve this by precisely regulating environmental elements such as temperature, humidity, light, and carbon dioxide concentration, which are all crucial for optimizing plant growth and yield.

9.1 Introduction

The world is facing various challenges, including climate change, population growth, and decreasing fertile land. It is necessary for the agricultural sector to shift towards sustainability and innovation. To revolutionize traditional farming practices, alternative cropping systems and advanced technologies like plant tissue culture in greenhouses are being explored. The goal is to optimize resource utilization, enhance crop resilience, and reduce the environmental impact. By adopting cutting-edge technologies, such as plant tissue culture, crops can be propagated and cultivated within controlled environments like greenhouses, ensuring global food security and meeting the growing population’s demands.

In the world of greenhouse cultivation, achieving optimal plant growth, maintaining robust health, and effectively managing pests is crucial for successful crop production. It requires a comprehensive approach to balance various factors, including chemical growth regulation, disease control, and pest management. Greenhouse technology plays a vital role in providing a controlled environment to fine-tune these variables. As we dive into the details of this delicate balance, it becomes clear how important it is to combine science and technology to find innovative solutions to ensure thriving crops while minimizing environmental impact.

11.1 Introduction

Horticultural crops are grown by farmers with the aim of generating profit. For a business to prosper, it is crucial that its products are delivered to customers who are satisfied with their quality and value, and who will continue to purchase them. Therefore, growers must continually meet consumers’ demand for fresh greenhouse-grown items by utilizing all available technology and expertise in producing, harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, and marketing their goods. The needs of the consumer should drive production.

Greenhouses have become an essential part of modern agriculture as they offer controlled environments for plant growth, research, and horticultural practices. This chapter discusses the various applications of greenhouses, which include extending growing seasons, improving crop yields, supporting botanical research, and producing ornamental plants. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of repair and maintenance in greenhouse operations. Understanding the repair and maintenance protocols is crucial to ensure the sustained functionality of heating systems, water management, and structural components.

1.1. Introduction: India’s present population, growth rate & projections

India is the second-most populous country in the world after China with its population of about 1.38 billion in the year 2020. The Population Division under the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, of the United Nations, has projected the country’s population to be growing to about 1.50 billion by the year 2030, and 1.64 billion by 2050, of course with its decreasing annual growth rate from 1.04 to 0.25% or so during the period of next thirty years (Fig. 1.1; UNDESA, 2019). The projection says the Indian population will exceed China by the year 2030 even with its decreasing rate i.e. India will be the most populous country by then. As agriculture and allied sectors are the backbone of this country and the largest livelihood source, it support this growing human and livestock population with diversified natural resources and varied agro-climatic conditions. However, the sustainability of agricultural production should be maintained in the face of perturbation and stress on the agro-ecosystem especially the degraded natural resource base and changing climate.

2.1. Introduction

Water plays a pivotal role in this earth system. The withdrawal of water for irrigation is about 70% of the global freshwater. Water use efficiency is less than 50% in many countries. It has been forecasted by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO, 2015) that global water requirements will be increased by 50% by the year 2050 to meet the demands of agricultural water use. This is so because food demand will be higher for the growing human population. We have entered into an earth system where everything living has evolved and developed (Cosgrove and Loucks, 2015). There has been a new geological scenario, some say Anthropocene (Crutzen, 2002; Williams et al., 2011). Consequently, freshwater will increasingly be a scarce and the costliest resource in the future, which needs to be managed properly.

3.1. Introduction

Rice is grown in varying geographical locations and climatic situations. Most of the rice area lies between the equator and 400 N latitude and between 700 and 1400 E longitude. It grows well from tropical to sub-tropical warm and temperate climatic regions up to 400 S and 500 N of the equator. However, the highest yields are obtained in the region between 300 and 450 N of the equator. The average yield generally increases as the countries are situated further away from the equator (Chatterjee and Maiti, 1985). In India, rice grows in regions from 80 N to 350 N latitudes under widely varying conditions of the land, rainfall, altitude and climatic conditions. It is grown at the sea level in river deltas as in parts of Kerala, as deepwater in states of West Bengal, Assam and Bihar; at high altitudes of 914 to 1524 m or even more as in Kashmir, and in the slopes of the Himalayas. A temperature range of 200 C to 37.70 C is required throughout the life period of rice crop.

4.1. Introduction

Globally, rice is cultivated on about 165 million ha of land, which provides around 787 million tons of paddy annually (FAO, 2023). In Asia, 708 million tons of paddy is produced from nearly 143 million rice-cultivated areas. Rice crop is grown in a wide range of climates, varied soil types, and hydrological situations. Rice is the lone cereal crop that grows well in floods.

The rice habitat can be divided into four groups based on the hydrology of the rice field: irrigated lowland rice (79~80 million ha), rainfed lowland rice (54~55 million ha), upland rice (14~15 million ha), and flood-prone rice (11~12 million ha) (Table 4.1) (Bouman et al., 2006).

5.1. Introduction

Rice-fallows are a rainfed rice mono-crop production system, where only a single crop (rice) is grown and these lands remain without any crop for the rest of the period of the year (fallow). An estimate shows that rice-fallow areas extended over 22.3 M ha in South Asia, maximum in India ( 88.3%) followed by Bangladesh (8.7%), Nepal (1.4%), Sri Lanka (1.1%), Pakistan (0.5%), and Bhutan (0.02%) (Gumma et al., 2016). The eastern part of India accounts for ~ 84% (9.7 million ha) of the country’s total rice-fallow area (i.e. 11.7 million ha) (Ali et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2017), despite high rainfall during rainy / monsoon season. The reasons are that after the rainy season, irrigation facilities are lacking, very fast depletion of the soil residual moisture due to temperature rise, the poor economic condition of the farmers, and a lack of awareness or knowledge of available technologies. Additionally, delayed harvesting of long-duration rice (150-160 days) results in late sowing of winter crops, which, in turn, exacerbates the temperature and moisture stresses in winter crops (Kumar et al., 2018a; 2018b). Overall, the challenges of growing another crop in rice-fallow areas are the lack of irrigation facilities including declining groundwater levels, the dominance of the long-duration rice varieties cultivation, higher evaporative loss of the residual soil moisture, degradation of soil quality, and poor financial conditions of the farming community with diminishing profit. Recently, climate change with erratic rainfall and delayed monsoon arrival added more challenges for these areas in several places. Deficit soil moisture imposes stress on the crops and negatively affects the winter crops productivity in the rice-fallow system, and several times it results in complete crop failure (Singh et al., 2012; Ghosh et al., 2016).

6.1. Introduction

The growing human population presents a number of issues, including food scarcity, malnutrition, inadequate natural resources (land and water) for agricultural production, and environmental deterioration (MacDonald, 2010). Today, viable intensification of agri-production systems can fulfill rising food, nutrition and environmental demands (Pretty and Bharucha, 2014). Production of rice (Oryza sativa L.), a vital element of food security, which feeds nearly half of the world's population, occupies 143 million hectares of land (FAOSTAT, 2023), and uses up to 90% of all irrigation water in Asia (Liu et al., 2018). For instance, it has been determined that systems for producing rice are one of the main industries that wastes water resources and greatly increases greenhouse gas emissions (FAO, 2013). Therefore, it is necessary to look for ways to manage the rice production system more effectively. In paddy rice systems, co cultivating aquatic animals (fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish, and ducks) and rice has been suggested as a way to reduce the risks of environmental pollution/ contamination linked with rice production while simultaneously optimizing the use of land and water resources to provide humans with both grains and meat (Hu et al., 2016; Ahmed and Garnett, 2011). Co-culture systems have drawn more interest recently due to their potential to reduce the stresses associated with environmental and food insecurity.

7.1. Introduction

The integrated farming system (IFS) is becoming increasingly important for effective farm resource management in order to increase farm productivity, reduce environmental degradation, improve the quality of life for resource-poor farmers, and ensure sustainability. Integration happens when one production sub-system's outputs (typically by-products) are used as inputs in another within the farm unit (Radhammani et al., 2003; Lightfoot and Minnick, 1991). IFS are a mixed farming system made up of at least two distinct but logically linked components of crop and animal enterprises. The integrated farming system is effective in reducing risk, increasing productivity and revenues, and improving the use of organic waste and agricultural leftovers.