ASHS 2024 Conference

The study was conducted at two farmers’ fields in Bangladesh viz., Shibpur, Narshingdi (24.050º N Latitude and 90.718º E) and Chowara Bazar, Cumilla (23.408º N Latitude and 91.244º E), during Oct 2021 to Sep 2022. In this study, we evaluated the effects of five types of vegetables, viz., tomato, sweet pepper, cucumber, netted melon, and okra, under a protected polynet house. The cultivation of vegetables in protected conditions using transparent UV poly net houses played a better role in improving quality, advancing maturity, fruit size, and yield and reducing pest and disease infestation. Protected polynet houses allow better utilization of sunlight due to the manipulation of the spectra of radiation reaching the crops, thus promoting physiological responses in plant and fruit development, including leaf area index, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, tissue structure, fruit ripening, and physiological disorders. Under this evaluation, cultivation under UV Poly nethouse was found better in the Cumilla area compared to Narshingdi. There might be differences in management operations by different growers. For all crops, viz., tomato, sweet pepper, cucumber, netted melon, and okra, the production of the Cumilla area was very significant and higher. The Benefit-cost ratio was also higher [Tomato (2.05), sweet pepper (2.53), cucumber (1.42), netted melon (2.63) and okra (1.35) in Cumilla compared to Narshingdi [Tomato (1.75), sweet pepper (1.92), cucumber (1.21), netted melon (2.20), okra (1.22)], the lower BCR is due to the 1st year calculation. So, with UV poly nethouse technology, high value thermos-sensitive vegetables can be commercially grown year-round successfully to produce a safe and quality product, while higher fruit yield/unit area will be achieved in a protected nethouse than in a field.