Prof. (Dr). Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI briefed that CMERI Extension Centre, Ludhiana has indigenously developed a “Retractable Roof Polyhouse Technology”. This all-weather structure will have an automatic retractable roof which will be operated based on weather conditions and crop requirements from the conditional database using PLC software.
This developed technology will help farmers to cultivate both seasonal and off-season crops which can fetch higher yield, firmer and high shelf-life produce by creating optimal indoor micro-climate conditions compared to conventional open field tunnels & naturally ventilated poly houses, and also it reduces irrigation and disease problems, low labour requirement, environmentally friendly as it eliminates weedicides use, promote organic food production as it is viable technology for organic cultivation with reducing cultivation cost.
With the installation of Naturally Ventilated Polyhouse and Retractable Roof Polyhouse side by side, we can get the required scientific data and by analyzing the results we can enhance productivity and the developed facility will be used as a demonstration farm to the farmers. Dr. Nachiket Kotwaliwale, Director, ICAR-CIPHET, Ludhiana inaugurated a “Retractable roof polyhouse technology” at CMERI Extension Centre, Ludhiana in the presence of Prof. (Dr). Harish Hirani, Director, CSIR-CMERI and dedicated technology to Indian farmers.
Jagdish Manikrao, Senior Scientist, who has to lead the research team on the development of this technology explained that the retractable roof used to manipulate sunlight quantity, quality & duration, water stress, humidity, carbon-di-oxide levels, and crop & soil temperatures. The cropping area in the retractable roof polyhouse is about 384 Sq. m.
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