CR212 INTRODUCTION TO HORTICULTURE Lecturer: Mrs. G.T. Kujeke Cell: , Office No. 1 Ground floor

Overview of the course outline (refer to your course outline on Tsime)

Introduction to Horticulture Agriculture – broad referral to the technology of raising plants and animals Horticulture: Hortus- garden, Colere- cultivate Horticulture is the art and science of cultivating edible plants (fruits, nuts, and vegetables) and ornamental plants (annual and perennial flowers and woody plants Also concerned with intensively cultured crops/plants. Horticultural crops are those directly used by people for food, medicinal purposes, aesthetic value and for high returns.

Today’s horticulture students focus on the challenges and practices of the following: – genetics and breeding, – propagation, biotechnology, – production, – management, – handling and storage, marketing, – and utilization of ornamental plants in both the interior and exterior landscape.

Comparison Garden culture Fruits & vegetables spices, herbs, medicinal crops Utilized in living state Highly perishable High water content Intensive cultivation of high value crops High capital investment, labour & technology/m 2 Field crops Mainly grain crops, tobacco, forages Utilized in non living state High %age of dry matter Low water content Less intense cultivation of low value crops Low input usage/m 2

Branches of Horticulture Pomology- production of edible fruit crops Olericulture- production of vegetable crops Floriculture- production of ornamentals Landscaping Herbs & spice production Medicinal & aromatic plants Traditional/ indigenous vegetable production Mushroom production

Divisions of Horticultural Crops Food Crops: edible plants Ornamentals: for aesthetic value Beverages: specific crops- tea, coffee, cocoa Oil crops: oil producing plants Herbs & spices Industrial crops: provide raw materials Medicinals

Importance of Horticulture Economic value Nutritive value Social/community value Aesthetic value Medicinal value Conservation value Diversity Research & development

Classification of Horticultural Crops Classification: the arrangement of plants into groups having common characteristics Systems of classification 1. Growth habit: herbaceous, succulent, woody 2.Leaf persistence: deciduous, evergreen 3.Life span/ life cycle: annual, biennial, perennial 4. T o C Tolerance: tender, hardy, half hardy 5. Based on use: greens, salad crops, aesthetic etc

Systems of Classification 6. Origin: exotic, indigenous 7. Edible part: underground part- root, bulb etc above ground part- stem, leaf etc 8. Susceptibility to chilling injury: most susceptible- e.g cucumber, eggplant, moderately- e.g cabbage, broccoli, least-e.g kale, turnip 9. Rooting depth: shallow (45-60cm), moderately deep (90-120cm), deep (>122cm) 10. Sensitivity to pH: slightly tolerant- pH 6.8-6, moderate pH , very tolerant pH 6.8-5

Systems of Classification Scientific: based on the relationship of plants to one another. Starting from the top, the highest category, plants have traditionally been classified as follows in decreasing order: Kingdom < Division< <Class <Order <Family <Genus <Species <Variety Each group has the characteristics of the level above it, but has some distinguishing features. The further down the scale you go, the more minor the differences become, until you end up with a classification which applies to only one plant

Botanical varieties vs cultivar Botanical variety- a sub classification of a species, i.e a plant derived through natural processes and is self sustaining Variety –A Variety is a plant that is only slightly different from the species plant, but the differences are not so insignificant as the differences in a form. The Latin is varietas, which is usually abbreviated to var. Cultivar – A Cultivar is a cultivated variety, a particular plant that has arisen either naturally or through deliberate hybridisation, and can be reproduced (vegetatively or by seed) to produce more of the same plant. In layman’s terms: cultivar = variety

Assignments/write ups formats Title Introduction Aims and objectives Materials and Methods Results Discussion Conclusion References ( a minimum of 5), try and use recent material 2000 onwards. Use the Harvard method of citing and listing references. Font: 12 Spacing: 1.5 Writing style: Times New Roman

Reports Title Introduction Description of site visited Conclusion N/B: Avoid using personal reference i.e I, me, our, us Report using the past tense. Font: 12 Spacing: 1.5 Writing style: Times New Roman

Presentations With aid of pictures (where applicable), explain the following terms a) Seedling emergence in monocots and dicots () b) Seed viability and longevity and its importance to horticulture () c) Germination tests, improving germination capacity of seeds and the importance to horticulture ()