Agriculture is the basis of our economic activity. For improving agricultural production greenhouse technology was developed to prevent adverse climatic conditions. Even though higher yield and profit were obtained from greenhouse production compared to open field cultivation farmers were not satisfied with this technique due to the drastic reduction of crop yield with the aging of cladding material. To test this, an experiment was conducted in the instructional farm of Kelappaji College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (KCAET), Tavanur, Kerala during the period from April to June 2021. Amaranthus variety CO1 was planted inside two greenhouses where one is having cleaned cladding material and the other is an old one. Microclimatic parameters and the biometric observations of crop in both conditions were compared. Mean monthly values of temperature and light intensity were higher inside the cleaned greenhouse than the old one while relative humidity was higher inside the old greenhouse. Crop growth parameters were higher inside the cleaned greenhouse than the old one except the internodal length. From this study, it was clear that the aging of cladding material has a significantly higher influence on crop performance under greenhouse.

Field experiment was conducted to develop a small scale indoor hydroponic fodder production system (May- June 2021). Green fodder supply to the domestic animals is most important factor to improve their health, body weight, milk yield and thus obtaining maximum economic return. Land degradation and urbanisation reduced the area available for the green fodder production. India has 10.7% of world livestock population but only having 2.29% of its land mass and this is putting a huge pressure on land and water resource. Vertical growing of crop and minimising the usage of water is the best solution to solve this problem. Hydroponic technology helps to achieve very high yield and also provides better control over the crop production. Indoor cultivation eliminates the problem of weeds and pests and the use of pesticides and herbicides. Artificial lighting overcomes the disadvantage of seasonal variation of solar radiation and provides continuous source of energy supply. The study shows that green fodder can be efficiently grown at indoor condition. Hydroponic technique helped to achieve yield of 7.535 kg per day with a water requirement of only 4.78 litres per kg. The combination of red and blue LED lights supplied continuous energy for 12 hours a day for the better growth of crop. Results clearly show that the indoor hydroponic fodder production system with artificial supply of light can be recommended for the farmers to meet their fodder requirement.