Hydroponics: The New Age Farming

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Derived from Greek words, hydro meaning water and ponos meaning labour, hydroponics is a system of cultivation isolated from soil. Instead, plants are grown in water. One can grow all sorts of terrestrial plants with this new method.

In natural conditions, soil acts as a reservoir of minerals. In hydroponics, the are dissolved in water and. The roots absorb all the essential from water.

There are many advantages of hydroponics. First and foremost, no land is required for growing plants. Very little water is lost to evaporation. The water can also be reused, thereby lowering the cost of water. It is easy to control the level of in water and no nutrient pollution (such as nitrogen and phosphorus) is released into the environment. Its easier to get rid off pests and diseases from water than from soil.

The yield in hydroponics is much greater than the traditional way of soil farming. Wheat yields 5,600 lb in soil farming, while it produces 8,000 lb in hydroponics. Potatoes yield 1,56,000 lb in hydroponics in contrast to just 18,000 lb in natural farming.

The pioneers of hydroponics were Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, New York, New Jersey Agriculture Experimental Station, Alabama Polytechnic Institute and Horticulture Experiment Station, Netherlands. Hydroponics did not reach India until 1946. First research on hydroponics was done in Government of Bengal's Experimental Farm at Kalimpong in West Bengal.