NCERT Textbook: Hydroponics: Growing Plants without Soil

 Page 1


Work with 
Life Forms
Part 1
Project 1.indd   1 Project 1.indd   1 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
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Page 2


Work with 
Life Forms
Part 1
Project 1.indd   1 Project 1.indd   1 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
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Kaushal Bodh — Grade 8 2
‘Life forms’ include all living things on earth. 
They include human beings, mammals, 
birds, ??sh, plants, insects, reptiles and even 
bacteria and viruses. Projects on “Work with 
Life Forms? will help you work with living 
things in di??erent ways. You can take up 
projects related to growing plants in various 
ways, recording the biodiversity around 
you, surveying medicinal plants, learning 
to care for domestic and farm animals, and 
maintaining a nature journal. It is up to you 
to imagine all that you can do in the activities 
with your peers.
Two examples of projects are given in this 
section, which are Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil and Feeding and Caring 
for Farm Animals. You can either choose one 
of these projects or you can design a project 
of your own choice with the help of your 
teacher.
Project 1.indd   2 Project 1.indd   2 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
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Page 3


Work with 
Life Forms
Part 1
Project 1.indd   1 Project 1.indd   1 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
Reprint 2026-27
Kaushal Bodh — Grade 8 2
‘Life forms’ include all living things on earth. 
They include human beings, mammals, 
birds, ??sh, plants, insects, reptiles and even 
bacteria and viruses. Projects on “Work with 
Life Forms? will help you work with living 
things in di??erent ways. You can take up 
projects related to growing plants in various 
ways, recording the biodiversity around 
you, surveying medicinal plants, learning 
to care for domestic and farm animals, and 
maintaining a nature journal. It is up to you 
to imagine all that you can do in the activities 
with your peers.
Two examples of projects are given in this 
section, which are Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil and Feeding and Caring 
for Farm Animals. You can either choose one 
of these projects or you can design a project 
of your own choice with the help of your 
teacher.
Project 1.indd   2 Project 1.indd   2 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
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Project 1
Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil
Experts work towards ??nding agricultural solutions that will 
meet the demand for healthy food grown in an environmentally 
friendly manner. Hydroponics is one of the solutions that allows 
plants to be grown without soil or using a small amount of soil. 
This project is about developing a hydroponic unit in school.
As part of the project you will be able to:
Develop and 
maintain 
essential growth 
conditions through 
hydroponics 
Grow healthy 
microgreens
Establish and 
maintain simple 
hydroponic unit 
Prepare 
liquid organic 
manure
Maintain pH 
of water in 
hydroponic unit
Figure 1.1: Do-It-Yourself Hydroponics
Project 1.indd   3 Project 1.indd   3 25-06-2025   12.09.35 PM 25-06-2025   12.09.35 PM
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Page 4


Work with 
Life Forms
Part 1
Project 1.indd   1 Project 1.indd   1 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
Reprint 2026-27
Kaushal Bodh — Grade 8 2
‘Life forms’ include all living things on earth. 
They include human beings, mammals, 
birds, ??sh, plants, insects, reptiles and even 
bacteria and viruses. Projects on “Work with 
Life Forms? will help you work with living 
things in di??erent ways. You can take up 
projects related to growing plants in various 
ways, recording the biodiversity around 
you, surveying medicinal plants, learning 
to care for domestic and farm animals, and 
maintaining a nature journal. It is up to you 
to imagine all that you can do in the activities 
with your peers.
Two examples of projects are given in this 
section, which are Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil and Feeding and Caring 
for Farm Animals. You can either choose one 
of these projects or you can design a project 
of your own choice with the help of your 
teacher.
Project 1.indd   2 Project 1.indd   2 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
Reprint 2026-27
Project 1
Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil
Experts work towards ??nding agricultural solutions that will 
meet the demand for healthy food grown in an environmentally 
friendly manner. Hydroponics is one of the solutions that allows 
plants to be grown without soil or using a small amount of soil. 
This project is about developing a hydroponic unit in school.
As part of the project you will be able to:
Develop and 
maintain 
essential growth 
conditions through 
hydroponics 
Grow healthy 
microgreens
Establish and 
maintain simple 
hydroponic unit 
Prepare 
liquid organic 
manure
Maintain pH 
of water in 
hydroponic unit
Figure 1.1: Do-It-Yourself Hydroponics
Project 1.indd   3 Project 1.indd   3 25-06-2025   12.09.35 PM 25-06-2025   12.09.35 PM
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Kaushal Bodh — Grade 8 4
Farmers put a lot of e??ort into growing healthy food in the 
shortest period. But as the world population grows, the demand 
for food also increases. More and more land is needed to meet this 
demand — this land is taken from forests, leading to deforestation. 
Deforestation leads to the loss of biodiversity and contributes to 
climate change.
Another challenge is that, as the same land is used over the 
years to grow plants, it loses its nutrients, which is known as soil 
degradation. Heavy use of fertilisers to compensate for the loss 
of nutrients further degrades the soil quality due to the chemical 
component of most fertilisers. Besides loss of nutrients, erosion 
caused by wind and rain, water pollution due to industrial 
drainage, land degradation due to mining activities and even 
excessive water for irrigation, all contribute to the reduction of 
the land available for farming and the quality of produce.
The Government of India is encouraging farmers to use hydroponics 
through the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, 
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Technologies like 
hydroponics, and aeroponics in which plants are not in direct contact 
with soil, are being promoted under this mission.
In India, nearly 33% of the Total Geographical Area (TGA) 
is a??ected by soil degradation. This means we are losing our 
fertile farming land. Nearly 109 million hectares of land is facing 
declining soil quality.
The focus of agricultural scientists, nutritionists, engineers 
and environmental experts has been to help farmers adopt 
sustainable farming practices. Sustainable farming aims to 
produce food that is healthy for humans with minimum negative 
impact on the environment. 
The term hydroponics is derived from the Greek words ‘hydro’, 
that is, water, and ‘ponos’, that is, labour or toil.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a nutrient-
rich water solution instead of soil (Figures 1.1 and 1.2). Plants 
in a hydroponic unit receive nutrients directly from the water 
Project 1.indd   4 Project 1.indd   4 16-06-2025   3.41.06 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.06 PM
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Page 5


Work with 
Life Forms
Part 1
Project 1.indd   1 Project 1.indd   1 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
Reprint 2026-27
Kaushal Bodh — Grade 8 2
‘Life forms’ include all living things on earth. 
They include human beings, mammals, 
birds, ??sh, plants, insects, reptiles and even 
bacteria and viruses. Projects on “Work with 
Life Forms? will help you work with living 
things in di??erent ways. You can take up 
projects related to growing plants in various 
ways, recording the biodiversity around 
you, surveying medicinal plants, learning 
to care for domestic and farm animals, and 
maintaining a nature journal. It is up to you 
to imagine all that you can do in the activities 
with your peers.
Two examples of projects are given in this 
section, which are Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil and Feeding and Caring 
for Farm Animals. You can either choose one 
of these projects or you can design a project 
of your own choice with the help of your 
teacher.
Project 1.indd   2 Project 1.indd   2 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.05 PM
Reprint 2026-27
Project 1
Hydroponics: Growing 
Plants without Soil
Experts work towards ??nding agricultural solutions that will 
meet the demand for healthy food grown in an environmentally 
friendly manner. Hydroponics is one of the solutions that allows 
plants to be grown without soil or using a small amount of soil. 
This project is about developing a hydroponic unit in school.
As part of the project you will be able to:
Develop and 
maintain 
essential growth 
conditions through 
hydroponics 
Grow healthy 
microgreens
Establish and 
maintain simple 
hydroponic unit 
Prepare 
liquid organic 
manure
Maintain pH 
of water in 
hydroponic unit
Figure 1.1: Do-It-Yourself Hydroponics
Project 1.indd   3 Project 1.indd   3 25-06-2025   12.09.35 PM 25-06-2025   12.09.35 PM
Reprint 2026-27
Kaushal Bodh — Grade 8 4
Farmers put a lot of e??ort into growing healthy food in the 
shortest period. But as the world population grows, the demand 
for food also increases. More and more land is needed to meet this 
demand — this land is taken from forests, leading to deforestation. 
Deforestation leads to the loss of biodiversity and contributes to 
climate change.
Another challenge is that, as the same land is used over the 
years to grow plants, it loses its nutrients, which is known as soil 
degradation. Heavy use of fertilisers to compensate for the loss 
of nutrients further degrades the soil quality due to the chemical 
component of most fertilisers. Besides loss of nutrients, erosion 
caused by wind and rain, water pollution due to industrial 
drainage, land degradation due to mining activities and even 
excessive water for irrigation, all contribute to the reduction of 
the land available for farming and the quality of produce.
The Government of India is encouraging farmers to use hydroponics 
through the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture, 
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Technologies like 
hydroponics, and aeroponics in which plants are not in direct contact 
with soil, are being promoted under this mission.
In India, nearly 33% of the Total Geographical Area (TGA) 
is a??ected by soil degradation. This means we are losing our 
fertile farming land. Nearly 109 million hectares of land is facing 
declining soil quality.
The focus of agricultural scientists, nutritionists, engineers 
and environmental experts has been to help farmers adopt 
sustainable farming practices. Sustainable farming aims to 
produce food that is healthy for humans with minimum negative 
impact on the environment. 
The term hydroponics is derived from the Greek words ‘hydro’, 
that is, water, and ‘ponos’, that is, labour or toil.
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in a nutrient-
rich water solution instead of soil (Figures 1.1 and 1.2). Plants 
in a hydroponic unit receive nutrients directly from the water 
Project 1.indd   4 Project 1.indd   4 16-06-2025   3.41.06 PM 16-06-2025   3.41.06 PM
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Hydroponics: Growing Plants without Soil 5
solution, allowing the farmer to ensure that they receive the 
precise amount. Therefore, it is also referred to as a ‘precision 
farming technique’. 
You can have multistorey (vertical) farming in hydroponics 
to utilise vertical space and produce more food in less space. 
Similarly, recirculating (reusing) water and fertilisers, controlling 
climatic parameters like temperature, humidity and light for 
photosynthesis and maximising plant growth is possible in 
hydroponics (for example, the hydroponic unit could be placed in 
a polyhouse). Hydroponics is also used for growing crops in cities, 
which is known as “urban farming”.
What will I be able to do?
At the end of the project, you will be able to:
1. Grow healthy microgreens using a basic hydroponics 
system.
2. Establish a hydroponic unit using wick-based system, 
Deep Water Culture (DWC), and the Nutrient Film 
Technique (NFT). 
3. Prepare organic liquid manure for hydroponics. 
4. Improve the quality of water by varying pH.
Figure 1.2: Hydroponic setup in a polyhouse
Project 1.indd   5 Project 1.indd   5 04-Feb-26   9:31:53 AM 04-Feb-26   9:31:53 AM
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