Cooling and Qualitative Study of Evaporative Cool Hydroponically Grown Maize Crop
Sanjay Kumar Singh
Farm Machinery and Post-Harvest Technology Division, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284003, India.
Amit Kumar Patil *
Farm Machinery and Post-Harvest Technology Division, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284003, India.
Sheshrao Kautkar
ICAR- Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology, Mumbai, India.
P. N. Dwivedi
Farm Machinery and Post-Harvest Technology Division, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284003, India.
A. K. Singh
Seed Technology Division, ICAR-Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi-284003, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A study of evaporative cool hydroponic chamber was made with respect to its cooling and qualitative evaluation for growth of maize. The daily average temperature and RH range of 35.5 to 36.1 0C and 37–77% respectively were observed under Evaporative Cool Hydroponic Chamber (ECHC). The cooling efficiency of ECHC varied from 57.61% to 83.33% with an average value of 74.06%. Fresh biomass yield of fodder maize was observed as 1.2kg/ft2 of tray area. Crude protein and crude fibre on dry matter basis of hydroponic maize fodder ranged from 13.1-13.08% and 15.30-15.31% respectively. The ECHC can be used as an alternative of high cost hydroponic fodder machines which can be locally fabricated and operated by semi-skilled manpower.
Keywords: Hydroponic, evaporative, fodder, maize, temperature, humidity