Suitability assessment of different cladding materials for growing bell pepper under protected cultivation structures using multi-criteria decision-making technique

Farmers are using different cladding materials for protected cultivation. This study was undertaken to test the suitability of different cladding materials for growing bell pepper. This study has investigated four types of protected cultivation structures with and without ventilation. The structure includes Structure-1 and Structure -2, which are made up of a shed-net and insect-net, respectively. However, the structure with the provision of different materials for ventilation includes Structure-3 and Structure-4, which are made up of polyhouse sheet, and ventilation was provided by the use of shed-net and insect-net, respectively. The soil temperature and moisture, along with the weather and vegetative parameters, were recorded to estimate the reference and crop evapotranspiration under each structure. Moreover, the recorded parameters were evaluated using multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), incorporating two different weight criteria estimation methods. The obtained weights were further recalculated by Integrated Determination of Objective Criteria Weight (IDOCRIW) practice to improve the evaluation's accuracy. Further, the weighted rank of the structures is determined by the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS). The study found that Entropy and IDOCRIW with the TOPSIS and COPRAS method agree with the estimated benefit–cost ratio as both ranked Structure-4 as one rank (the most suitable) followed by Structure-3. The proposed MCDM methodology can be potentially applied for appropriate protected cultivation structures identification for different climatic conditions and crops.