CSIR-CMERI opens ventilated polyhouse to facilitate horticulture crops

Dr (Prof) Harish Hirani, Director, Csir-central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur inaugurated a naturally ventilated polyhouse facility and laid the foundation stone of retractable roof polyhouse at Ludhiana in Punjab. A combination of open field conditions and conventional polyhouse conditions is a more robust way to deal with climate change and associated problems in the future. CMERI Extension centre, Ludhiana is installing a retractable roof polyhouse technology. The 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. The ongoing development will help farmers to cultivate both seasonal and offseason crops. It can fetch higher yield, firmer and high shelf-life produce by creating optimal indoor microclimate conditions compared to conventional open field tunnels and naturally ventilated polyhouses. Moreover, it is a viable technology for organic cultivation.