Scope and Establishment of Successful Hydroponic System

• Aug 29
• Admin
• 1

Hydroponic farming has emerged as an effective alternative to conventional farming for meeting the challenges posed by burgeoning populations, rapid urbanization, climate change and food safety issues. The scope of hydroponic farming lies in overcoming the limitations posed by the use of soil that harbours many diseases, pests and weeds besides issues related to its texture, structure and fertility. Another important scope of hydroponic farming is its amenability to vertical farming and production of more produce per unit space and time as would be required in the times of rapid urbanization and meeting the needs of fresh food supply chains round the year. Hydroponic is at the core of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and has even been used for growing plants in harsh environments even as far as in the space as well. A simple definition of hydroponic farming is generally limited to it being called a “soilless crop production technology” which though in details dwells on smart use of water chemistry for replacing the role of soil in suppling essential nutrients and water to the plants. Hence, water fortified with hydroponic fertiliser and hydroponic nutrients in the right proportion (Nutrient Solution) is the life line of hydroponic crop production system in place of soil, besides light, O2 and CO2. Therefore, a thorough knowledge and training in hydroponic is required for understanding the chemistry of nutrient solution, its management and monitoring in the hydroponic system before one sets out for the establishment of a successful hydroponic crop production system. No matter, what type of hydroponic system one opts for whether floating, ebb and flow, drip, NFT or with the use of aggregate inert substrates, the nutrient solution is common to all and hydroponic fertiliser and hydroponic nutrients are the major recurring resource required to run the hydroponic systems. In conclusion it may be summed up that to capitalize on the vast scope of hydroponic as entailed above, besides initial costs for establishment of efficient hydroponic system, training in hydroponic from a competent source like School of Hydroponic of Institute of Horticulture Technology is a prerequisite to run a successful hydroponic system of any scale.