CAREER FOCUS

HORTICULTURE

With its classic reference to the culture or growing of garden plants, Horticulture encompasses cultivation of plants, vegetables, flowers, fruits, herbs, shrubs, bushes, ornamental trees and landscaping or gardens, maintaining nurseries, green houses, gardens, orchards and plantations. Horticulture is the science that includes cultivation of flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Over the years, horticulture has grown from its concept of kitchen garden kind of activity into an organized area of agriculture. The increasing demand for fresh and hygienically packaged fruits and vegetables offer new challenges for those entering this field. In the area of floriculture too, the demand has increased worldwide, and is further growing by 20percent every year .With technological advancement, great emphasis is also being put on improving regular varieties of fruits, vegetables and flowers: for processing and creating exotic species for decorative and commercial purposes; and mass scale multiplication of species for productivity.

There has been a virtual revolution in the cultivation of flowers. Today, cut flowers are used for decoration and export purposes. Moreover, big industrial houses and entrepreneurs have set up numerous large and small units to meet the fast expanding global flower market. The export potential for these products is very good and hence the prospects for horticulture specialists are extremely bright.

Basic Information:
An interesting number of institutes in India offer graduate and post graduate courses in Science and Horticulture is just one of the many subjects at this level. One can also do a diploma in horticulture and it is not treated as a core/major subject at the undergraduate level, but fitted into the mainstream agriculture course.
Some Pointers:

1. B.Sc Horticulture
Eligibility: 10+2 or equivalent examination with Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
Duration: 4years course. Horticulture is one of the core subjects of B.Sc course in Agriculture.

2. M.Sc Hoticulture: B.Sc Horticulture or B.Sc Agriculture, M.Sc in horticulture offers specialization in pomology (includes production and marketing of fruits), floriculture (includes production and marketing of floral crops), landscape horticulture (includes production, marketing  and maintenance of landscape plants), olericulture (production and marketing of vegetables), and postharvest physiology(involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops).M.Sc. may be followed by a Ph.D and then postdoctoral fellowship.

Personal Characteristics:
Interest in nature, keen observation and tremendous patience, ability to put in long hours often outdoors and in varying climatic conditions, perseverance, knowledge of seasonal plants, local plants and soil condition. 
Course Contents:
that complement Horticulture are biology, botany, entomology,chemistry,mathematics, genetics,physiology,statistics,computer science and communication, garden design, planting design. Plant science and horticulture courses include: plant materials, plant propagation, tissue culture, crop production, post harvest handling, plant breeding, pollination management, crop nutrition, entomology, plant pathology, economics and business. 

Main Areas of Work:
There are broadly two main areas of activity in horticulture: Commercial Horticulture involves growing plants for sale both as raw commodities and for processing purposes.

Amenity Horticulture involves making and maintaining garden as pleasant environs. 
Field/Areas of Work:
Includes horticultural farms, parks and gardens, plant pathology, flower propagation, fruit and vegetable processing, preservation and marketing etc. Production covers the growing and harvesting of raw fruits, vegetables and flowers carried out mainly by farmers

Much of the work is farming, involving management and supervision of agricultural practices for maximizing yields. With the widespread commercialization this activity, there are now industrial houses that handle large scale and scientific cultivation of flowers, fruits and vegetables.

Processing covers all aspects of handling flowers, fruits and vegetables for distribution whether in natural form or as processed foods. New and scientific methods of farming have made it possible to extend the shelf life of these perishables. 

Areas of Specialization:
Most horticulturists specialize in some aspects of horticulture, whether in the cultivation of a particular fruit or vegetable, or in exotic varieties of flowers such as orchids or house plants, or bulb production. Other areas of specializations could be landscaping and designing layouts of gardens, public as well as private, or running of a nursery. 

Related Careers:
Agriculture, Landscape Architecture, Food Processing, Teaching.

By: Sonam Pelmo