Protected Cultivation of Vegetables–Present Status and Future Prospects in India

Horticulture today forms an integral part of food, nutritional and economic security.Adoption of horticulture, both by small and marginal farmers has brought prosperity in many regions of the country as India is endowed with a wide variety of agro-climatic conditions & enjoys an enviable position in the horticulture map of the world.Inspite of its great importance, it facing a lot of constraints like photostress, moisture stress, temperature stress, weed growt, deficiencies in soil nutrients, excessive wind velocities and atmospheric carbon-dioxide.These constraints can be alleviated by adopting a unique, specialized hi-technology known as protected cultivation.the intent is to grow crops where the extreme conditions are existed and plant could not survive by modifying the natural environment. Protected cultivation of vegetable offers distinct advantage of quality, productivity and favorable market price to the growers. It increases their income in offseason as compared to normals season.off season cultivation is one of the most profitable technology under Northern Plains of India. Virus free cultivation of Tomato, Chilli, Sweet pepper, ccucumber and other vegetables mainly during rainy season.