Micro Climate Control in Greenhouse

During last two decades in India, the productivity and efficiency of horticultural production have received particular attention and key concept has been to accelerate plant growth to achieve maximum production. Protected cultivation makes it possible to obtain increased crop productivity maintaining a favourable environment for the plants. Therefore, production in greenhouses has become more popular than in the past. A greenhouse can be defined as a “framed or an inflated structure with a transparent or translucent material in which crops could be grown under the condition of at least partially controlled environment and which is large enough to permit persons to work within it to carry out cultural operations” (Tiwari, 2003). The design and selection of acontrolled environment greenhouse depends upon the climatic conditions of each zone and plants requirement. India has six climatic zones on the basis of rainfall, relative humidity, ambient air temperature and insolation. These zones are: hot and dry considering Centre as Jodhpur, warm and humid for Chennai, moderate for Bangalore, cold and cloudy at Srinagar and composite at New Delhi (Bansal and Minke, 1988).