Protected cultivation of vegetables-sustainable vegetable production through use of greenhouse cultivation

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. In spite of its great importance, it facing a lot of constraints like photo-stress, moisture stress, temperature stress, weed growth, 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. With the increase in population of our country and improvement in the dietary habits, the consumption of vegetable has improved. People realize the importance of vegetables in their diet as vegetables have high nutritive values which are the vital for the body. Since, vegetables are treated as high value crops and their regular supply in the market as in fresh condition is essentiality. It increases their income in off- season as compared to normal’s season. Off season cultivation is one of the most profitable technologies under Northern Plains of India. Virus free cultivation of Tomato, Chilli, Sweet pepper, cucumber, Bitter Gourd and other vegetables mainly during rainy season.