Green fodder feeding to livestock ensures optimization of productivity. Though India is the top producer of milk in the world, insufficient livestock feed and fodder is one of the constraints affecting growth, health, production and reproduction potential of livestock. In India only 4.9 per cent of cropped land area is utilized for cultivating fodder. India faces a deficit of 35.6 per cent green fodder, 26 per cent of dry fodder and 41 per cent of concentrate feed ingredients (Jagdale et al 2018).

In Tamil Nadu, 30.7 million heads of livestock are reared, which depend on 0.17 million ha of cultivable fodder area and 0.11 million ha of pasture land. The pasture land has declined over the past. However, fodder production is gaining momentum through various schemes of Government of Tamil Nadu and this has reduced the deficit of green fodder to 25 per cent (Jemimah et al 2015).

A novel method called ‘Hydroponics’ means growing plants without soil by using nutrient water at desired temperature and humidity. Through hydroponics, it is easier and quick to produce nutritive green fodder. It is a simple rural-friendly low-cost hydroponic device to produce 15-30 kg of fodder daily targeting resource poor rural farmers, who rear one or two milch animals. Hydroponics may be the farmers’ choice of fodder production in future (Jemimah et al 2015).

The crops like maize (Naik et al 2011, Naik et al 2012, Ningoji 2020), barley (Reddy et al 1988), oats, cowpea, horse gram, ragi, sun hemp, bajra, jowar, moth bean, foxtail millet, sanwa millet, kodo millet and little millet can be grown successfully under hydroponic fodder production system.

However, geographical and agro-climatic conditions and easy availability of seeds are the choice for hydroponics technology. In India, easy availability of seed, lower seed cost, good biomass production and quick growing habit, maize is the choice of grain for hydroponics fodder production (Singh 2020). Leguminous crops grow well under hydroponics which is encouraging as fodder has high crude protein content than cereal crops (Jemimah et al 2015). In the present study, experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth and yield parameters and economics of different crops through hydroponics.

The experiment was conducted at Kumaraguru Institute of Agriculture, Erode, Tamil Nadu to examine the growth parameters of different crops using hydroponics during Feb-March and April-May 2019.

The experimental farm was situated in western agro-climatic zone of Tamil Nadu at 11°49’ N latitude, 77°56’ E longitude at an altitude of 200 m amsl. The average minimum and maximum temperature in the area ranged from 32 to 34°C and relative humidity from 65 to 80 per cent during the cropping period.

The experiment was laid out in completely randomized block design with three replications. The low-cost hydroponics system was made by using locally available PVC pipe which was modified with the size of 20 m × 10 m in a shade net.

The experiment was laid out as per Jemimah et al (2015). The seeds of crops were soaked in water for 20 h which sprouted in 24 h. Trays were racked in the stand and fully grown fodder was ready on 8^th day (Plates 1-8).

Data given in Table 1 show that root length was 7.3, 6.3, 6.2 and 5.6 cm in maize, cow pea, black gram and ragi respectively, which were at par. The root length was statistically higher in maize (7.3 cm) as compared to green gram (4.6 cm), the latter being at par with all other crops except maize. Shoot length was highest in maize (18.1 cm) and black gram (15.2 cm), the two being at par, but latter being at par with green gram (13.4 cm) and cow pea (11.5 cm). Lowest shoot length was recorded in ragi (3.4 cm).

Maximum root biomass per plant was observed in ragi (29 g) and maize (25 g), the two being at par and maize being at par with cow pea (24 g), green gram (21 g) and black gram (20 g). Shoot biomass per plant was recorded maximum in maize (55 g) followed by cow pea (50 g), green gram (49 g) and black gram (47 g), the latter three being at par. Minimum shoot weight per plant was noticed in ragi (37 g).

Highest crude protein content was recorded in black gram (36.50%), green gram (35.95%) and cow pea (31.45%), which were at par, as compared to lowest in ragi (15.85%) and maize (10.55%), the two being statistically at par. Higher crude fibre content was observed in black gram (16.78%), green gram (15.50%), cow pea (15.38%) and ragi (15.25%), all being at par, as compared to lowest in maize (10.55%). Highest fodder production was recorded in maize (8.6 kg), followed by black gram (8.3 kg), green gram (8.0 kg) and cow pea (7.9 kg) with minimum in ragi (4.0 kg).

Maize resulted in highest B-C ratio of 1:2.8, followed by ragi (1:2.6), black gram (1:2.4) and green gram and cow pea (1:2.3 each). The results showed that maize was superior over other crops in case of shoot biomass per plant production, fodder production and B-C ratio.

Barwant et al (2018) reported that the cost effective maize green fodder is prepared within 1-10 days with continuous care in which from one hydroponics rack from 12 kg mature seed 80 kg green maize fodder is formed. From 1 kg, 7 kg green maize fodder is formed and one rack fodder is sufficient for 4-5 cattle for 7 days. For maize hydroponic green fodder production, time required is 10-15 days.

Through hydroponics, it is easy to produce green fodder from maize, ragi, bajra, cowpea, horse gram seeds. Leguminous crops grow well and they give very high yield than the cereal crops. From 1 kg of seed, the green fodder can be increased for about 15-20 kg through hydroponic system. All the nutrients like crude protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals get increased in hydroponic fodder (Arivukodi et al 2020).

Naik et al (2014) reported that the hydroponics maize fodder had higher crude protein (13.30 vs 11.14%) and lower crude fibre (6.37 vs 22.25%) than Napier bajra hybrid. Naik et al (2015) reported that maize grain should be the choice for production of hydroponics fodder. Yields of 5-6 folds on fresh basis and dry matter content of 11-14 per cent are common for hydroponics maize fodder, however, dry matter content up to 18 per cent has also been observed.

Bakshi et al (2017) reported that the biomass yield recorded after nine days was found to be higher (4.16 kg) in 300 g/cm² compared to other seed rate, where fodder was produced in low-cost hydroponic system. Fodder production is accelerated by as much as 25 per cent by bringing the nutrients directly to the plants, without developing large root systems to seek out food.

Plants mature faster and more evenly under a hydroponic system than a conventional soil-based system. One kg of un-sprouted seed yields 8-10 kg green forage in 7-8 days (Sneath and McIntosh 2003, Naik et al 2013). The hydroponics maize fodder yield on fresh basis is 5-6 times higher than that obtained in a traditional farm production and is more nutritious (Naik et al 2014).

The crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and Ca content increased, but organic matter and non-fibrous carbohydrates content decreased in the hydroponic green forage compared with the original seed on a dry matter basis (Abdullah 2001, Fazaeli et al 2012, Kide et al 2015, Mehta and Sharma 2016).

Traditional fodder production requires a major investment for the purchase of land, in addition to investment in agricultural machinery, equipment, infrastructure required for pre- and post-harvesting, including handling, transportation and conservation of fodder. It also requires labour, fuel, lubricants, fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and weedicides.

On the other hand, hydroponic fodder production requires only seed and water as production inputs with modest labour inputs. Hydroponics minimises post-harvest losses, with no fuel required for harvesting and post-harvesting processes. Moreover, in hydroponic systems it takes only 7-8 days to develop from seed to fodder while it takes 45-60 days under traditional systems.

However, the initial investment required for setting up hi-tech, sophisticated, automated commercial hydroponic fodder production systems, with environmental control, plus operational costs is much higher than traditional soil-based fodder production farming. Such hydroponic systems require much more specialized equipment and technical knowledge than are required in traditional farming (Tranel 2013).

According to Ramteke et al (2019), hydroponics green fodder contains more crude protein (13.6% v/s 10.7%) and less crude fibre (14.1% v/s 25.9 %) as compared to traditional fodder production.

Seed for hydroponic cultivation is major input and contributes about 90 per cent of the total cost of production of hydroponics. About 7.0 and 7.5 kg of green fodder is produced in 7 to 8 days. In situations, where conventional green fodder cannot be grown successfully, hydroponics fodder can be produced by the farmers for feeding their dairy animals using low-cost devices.

There seems to be a great potential for developing hydroponics technology for fodder production. Hydroponics fodder can be produced and fed in situations where cultivated fodder cannot be grown successfully. The hydroponic fodder/feed technology is gaining importance for small, medium and landless farmers. The technology can also be adopted by progressive dairy farmers who can produce hydroponics fodder for feeding their dairy animals. However, the existing knowledge level about this technology is insufficient, hence, it needs adequate research. There is need to develop specific low-cost devices for production of hydroponics fodder as per local conditions. Better outcome is possible with the strong policy support and technology back up.

Observations made on 8^th day

References