New polyhouse technology to help cultivate off-season crops

Last Updated08/08/2021

Director of Indian Council of Scientific & Industrial Research’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, inaugurated a “naturally ventilated polyhouse facility” & laid foundation of “retractable roof polyhouse” at Ludhiana.
Farmers face number of problems such as excessive or insufficient cold, heat, rain, wind, & other factors associated with crop.
These problems can be overcome by conventional polyhouse.

Crop losses in India due to insect pests is about 15 per cent at present and this loss may increase as climate change lowers the plant defense system against insects and pests.
A polyhouse is a specially constructed structure like a building where specialised polythene sheet is used as a covering material under which crops can be grown in partially or fully controlled climatic conditions.
It is covered with a transparent material as to permit the entry of natural light. Polyhouses are also helpful in reducing threats such as extreme heat and pest attacks in crops.
This is especially important for crops growing in the open field with no protection from the weather, and therefore its yield, quality, and crop maturity timings are changed.
A combination of open field conditions and conventional greenhouse conditions is a more robust way to deal with climate change and associates problems in the future.

Conventional greenhouses have a stationary roof to reduce the effect of weather anomalies and pests.
However, there are still disadvantages due to roof covering which sometimes lead to excessive heat and insufficient light (early morning).
Besides this, they are also prone to insufficient levels of carbon dioxide, transpiration and water stress.
“Retractable Roof Polyhouse Technology will have an automatic retractable roof which will be operated based on weather conditions and crop requirements from the conditional database using programming software.
This ongoing development will be useful in our country with its 15 different agro-climatic zones and will help farmers to cultivate off-season crops that can fetch higher value and income.

It was established in February 1958 with the specific task of development of mechanical engineering technology.
The Institute is the apex R&D institute for mechanical engineering under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Being the only national level research institute in this field, CMERI·s mandate is to serve industry and develop mechanical engineering technology so that India·s dependence on foreign collaboration is substantially reduced in strategic and economy sectors.