Hydroponics Green Fodder Guide:
Green fodder is one of the
important inputs and plays major role in feed of milch animals. Green fodder
provides required nutrients/mineral for milk production and health of the dairy
animals or livestock. Control
of feed cost in dairy animals impacts the profits and result in successful
dairy farming. Generally, in most of Indian states, the feed cost is about 70
to 75% of total milk cost where in green fodder contributes 30 to 35% of total
input feed. In
India, rapid urbanisation and mining areas has caused shrinkage of grazing
areas and availability of lands that produces green fodder. This situation
caused the dairy owners to look for alternative and sustainable method of quality
green fodder production. Due
to high labour costs, non-availability of irrigated lands and high land prices
made the dairy business to face many challenges to meet the growing milk demand
in the country. It
is very clear that with increasing costs and depleting natural resources, sustainable
technology like 'Hydroponics' would be the key driver of the dairy industry
future. Using hydroponic technology to produce the quality green fodder would
be a revolutionary step in country’s green fodder production. Having limited
irrigation facility is also forces to implement the hydroponic technology in
production of green fodder. Greenhouse / Polyhouse would be the right choice
for implementing the hydroponic technology. Many states in India are providing
subsidies on building polyhouse and greenhouses. One can avail these subsidies
on greenhouse or polyhouse to implement the hydroponic technology in production
of quality green fodder. Hydroponically grown fodder can be fed to sheep, goat,
cattle and other livestock animals. Read more here.
