Soil moisture patterns from emitters are important for the design and management of drip irrigation systems. The soil moisture distribution pattern around a emitter depends on depth of lateral placement, emitter spacing, duration and frequency of water application, soil physical and hydraulic properties. These patterns can be obtained by direct measurements of wetting in the field, which is site specific, or by simulations using some models. Simulation of water movement in soil is very useful for optimum management of water use. Hence, the study was conducted to optimize the depth of placement of lateral in drip irrigation. Laterals were placed at 0, 15 and 30 cm below the ground level with constant lateral spacing of 1.50 m with the combination of emitter spacing of 30 and 60 cm with 2.2 and 4 LPH dripper discharge. Soil moisture distribution pattern was studied by using gravimetric method. The study revealed that wetting front in the horizontal direction started overlapping after 6 hours in lateral spaced at 15cm depth with 4 lph dripper @60 cm apart. So the layout 15 cm depth of lateral placement and60 cm @4 lph was found better than other layouts since the losses due to evaporation and percolation were minimized.

Many challenges have come to the limelight in recent years due to a rapid increase in the world population. One of these challenges is the reduction of the per capita land available for soil-based agriculture, leading to other agricultural and environmental problems. Under these critical circumstances, it became necessary to develop advanced technologies and techniques to withstand the current situation. While several studies have been carried out on soil and in vitro plant cultivation, few of these are based on soilless crops. Soilless agriculture is a new promising method for improving cultivation of different cash crops. Apart from the reservation and restoration of cultivation land, soilless farming, especially close-loop method, has numerous advantages: it uses recycled fixed quantities of water, saves 85-90% of irrigation water, can be implemented in unfavourable areas for ordinary farming, nearly zero contamination of the atmosphere, better yield than traditional farming. Therefore improved space and water management methods of food production under soilless cultivation have shown some promising results throughout the world.

Greenhouse is a frame structure that covers transparent materials such as glass, polyethylene and polycarbonate, etc. It consists of two parts frame and covering material. The greenhouse covering material acts as a barrier to the passage of air and traps energy inside the greenhouse, which heats both the plants and the soil within it. This wall, like the air near the ground, raises the temperature within the greenhouse. Greenhouses may be used for the cultivation of high-quality fruits, flowers, various crop nurseries, ornamental and medicinal plants. The benefits of greenhouses are high production per unit area because the genetic potential of the crop can be completely exploited, vegetables and nurseries can be grown off-season that obtain high market prices, good quality products and it is easy to protect the crops from pests, diseases and extreme climatic conditions. Greenhouse farming is a highly intensive industry that needs considerable labour and capital inputs. Because of this, all factors important for a successful enterprisers should be carefully considered by potential growers. Greenhouse vegetable processing is a 24-hour commitment in several respects. Constant vigilance is required for the maintenance, crop production and handling of emergencies.

Soilless culture is a technique of crop production using no soil. The main reason towards need for soil to soilless culture for horticultural crops is the problem related to proliferation of soil borne pathogen in the soil cultivation. Recent research studies reported that commercial production of greenhouse vegetables with soilless media has paved the way for reduction in economic losses caused by soil-borne pathogens. In this context, the present study was initiated to identify suitable substrate mixes for soilless culture. The experiment was laid out in a randomized block design. There were fifteen different media levels including control, with three replications. Crop Tomato TNAU hybrid CO3 were assessed for the mean performance in respect of growth characters namely shoot length, root length, germination percent and vigour index. The treatment Vermicompost: Coir pith (3:1) was found to have the highest value for growth characters for the crop. With regard to the physical and chemical properties, all combination media showed optimal range for crop growth. Further a cost analysis was made to find the suitable media based on cost aspects comparing Sujitha et al.; CJAST, 38(5): 1-6, 2019; Article no.CJAST.52394 2 reduction in vigour index and cost of media with that of best media. Treatment T 7 (Vermicompost: coir pith (2:1)) and T 6 (Vermicompost: Coir pith (1:3) were found to be the best media considering above factors. Original Research Article

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