Hydroponics fodder cultivation

[niksnarayana]

Hello Showvik
Can you share what cost is the seed for wheat? And are you facing any mold or fungal growth issues?
How are you maintaining the temperature and humidity?
We are also developing homegrown system to grow hydroponic fodder with maize, but ran into issues of mold and it got spoilt.
My email is niks.narayana@gmail.com, it would be nice to hear from you and take tips.

Thanks
Nikhil

[showvik]

@niksnarayana

Hello Showvik
Can you share what cost is the seed for wheat? And are you facing any mold or fungal growth issues?
How are you maintaining the temperature and humidity?
We are also developing homegrown system to grow hydroponic fodder with maize, but ran into issues of mold and it got spoilt.
My email is niks.narayana@gmail.com, it would be nice to hear from you and take tips.

Thanks
Nikhil

Hi,

please read my post before, all info is given there, and after that if any more doubts are there please ask me.

[niksnarayana]

You are right, I should have read earlier posts.

Thanks for pointing out.

Nikhil

[kasturiraju]

Dear shownik,

Realy it’s good and appreciable of your efforts , sharing your experiences on forum to help all other interested animal farming community.

Infact, we tried to communicate on your mobile and it was not reachable for quite some time.

let us know the address of your farm, if you are open to share the same. we are very much keen to see personally and understand your achievements,please.

hope you will revert back at earliest.

thanks and regards,

kasturiraju.

@showvik

Hi,

please read my post before, all info is given there, and after that if any more doubts are there please ask me.

[dshafi]

@showvik

Hi,

Its your conventional thinking, I have gone through a research paper published by KVK Baramati and they have been able to produce 750 kg of green fodder every day follwing the same technique I am using, they just made eight racks made of bamboo.

could you please share the research papers of KVK baramathi links

[anilkaye]

There appears to be many youtube vidoes of this technique which is apparently quite successful. So much so that companies have patented machines to do this …

youtube.com/watch?v=0BkHjXvy_F0
youtube.com/watch?v=Jc66T302i2M
youtube.com/watch?v=r3g1Y2inO3M

[minhaj]

hi
i am starting fodder production in a green house, is there any mineral or water based mineral required for ensuring good production i want 10 time growth please let me know.
i want seed of maize and barley or wheat also any supplies call me 9985769411

[sri2012]

@minhaj

hi
i am starting fodder production in a green house, is there any mineral or water based mineral required for ensuring good production i want 10 time growth please let me know.
i want seed of maize and barley or wheat also any supplies call me 9985769411

It is important to understand difference between greenhouse and hydroponic machine.

You will have to look for hydroponic machine not green house.

[gsumaro]

Hi Showvik,

Congrats on your approach. It will be helpful if you could share any pictures of your setup.
gsumaro

@showvik

Hi,

I am planning to start up a dairy farm in West Bengal where land is scarce, so I started searching alternative for cultivating my green fodder.

I came across several companies who gave me quotation for Hydroponic machines starting from 6,00,000 to 78,00,000. As I am not a politicial I dont have that much money to invest.

I started experimenting with the concept of Hydroponic fodder cultivation on my own, I experimented with wheat, barley and maize, and I was successful.

Here is how you too can do it at home environment.

Take 1 kg of barley, wheat or maize, it’s better if you choose your seed carefully depending on germination percentage, ideal seeds are with germination rate of 95%.

Instruction:

Things required: Bucket, 1 kg seed, a tray which shoud be 7-8 inch deep and where you will be able to spread your entire seed properly and a piece of coton cloth.

Process: Soak your seed for 12 hours in a bucket, after that rinse the water and place the seed on the tray, (spread it evenly and seeds should lay compact as it will form a root mat, if it is not compact root mat will be thin.) Cover it with a wet cloth, (Please remember to drain extra water from the tray or it may get affected with fungus). Place the tray in a dark place.

The cloth should be wet 24/7 and keep checking your cloth so that it doesn’t get dry.

Within next 12 hours you can see that your seed has started germinating, keep following the process for next 3 days when you can see small blades of grasses coming out.

Now you have to bring those trays to light, avoid direct sunlight as wheat barley or maize grasses reacts to this, I kept my tray in sunlight for a day and it started drying.

On 7th or 8th day you can see grasses have grown upto 7-8 inches and your green fodder is ready.

Please note: Deepending on what type of seed you are using you will get 6-8 kg of green grasses per kg seed.

[mnigam28]

Guys, Hydroponic Fodder Machine is indeed a good alternative and economically feasible option esp. for developing countries like India. In my farm, I am feeding Hydroponic fodder since last 6 months and have seen consistent increase in the milk (in HF cows …around 5 litres), while I reduced the concetrate feed by around 4 KG (earlier giving around 7.5 KG). I get Maize around 14 Rs/KG and stock them for 2-3 months. Started with 250 KG machine and now increasing it to 1000 KG machine.

My understanding is that due to the poor food quality options available in India (esp the market bought green fodder and concetrate feed, which are highly contaminated), when we switch to this quality sprout fodder, we see positive effect on both health and milk.

[kasturiraju]

Hi…,

you are true. one has to practice more and more.Based on continuous usage only, any technology or system can be improved. Finally, it canbe adopted by each and every one.

Absolutely, no wrong in finding alternatives, initially all innovations will be expensive.

keep writing, all the best,

kasturiraju.

@mnigam28

Guys, Hydroponic Fodder Machine is indeed a good alternative and economically feasible option esp. for developing countries like India. In my farm, I am feeding Hydroponic fodder since last 6 months and have seen consistent increase in the milk (in HF cows …around 5 litres), while I reduced the concetrate feed by around 4 KG (earlier giving around 7.5 KG). I get Maize around 14 Rs/KG and stock them for 2-3 months. Started with 250 KG machine and now increasing it to 1000 KG machine.

My understanding is that due to the poor food quality options available in India (esp the market bought green fodder and concetrate feed, which are highly contaminated), when we switch to this quality sprout fodder, we see positive effect on both health and milk.

[rakesh8616]

Once the seeds r germinated then how u manage to water them for a week.