From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Horticulture (Latin: hortus (garden plant) + cultura (culture)) is classically defined as the culture or growing of garden plants. Horticulture is the subdivision of agriculture dealing with gardening of enclosed areas, in contrast to agronomy, which deals with field crops, and forestry which deals with forest trees and products related to them. Horticulturists work in plant propagation, |crop production, plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, plant physiology, and the storage, processing, and transportation of fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs, and turf. They improve crop yield, quality, nutritional value, and resistance to insects, diseases, and environmental stresses. Genetics is also used as a valuable tool in the development of plants that can synthesize phytochemicals for pharmaceutical use.
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[edit] The study of horticulture
| Part of a series on Horticulture and Gardening |
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| Gardening |
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| Gardening • Garden • Botanical garden • Arboretum • Botany • Plant |
| Horticulture |
| Horticulture • Agriculture • Urban agriculture • City farm • Organic farming • Herb farm • Hobby farm • Intercropping • Farm |
| Customs |
| Plant protection |
Horticulture involves six areas of study, which can be grouped into two broad sections - ornamentals and edibles:
- Arboriculture the study and selection, planting, care, and removal of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants.
- Floriculture (includes production and marketing of floral crops),
- Landscape horticulture (includes production, marketing and maintenance of landscape plants).
- Olericulture (includes production and marketing of vegetables).
- Pomology (includes production and marketing of fruits)
- Postharvest physiology (involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops).
Horticulturists can work in industry, government, or educational institutions. They can be cropping systems engineers, wholesale or retail business managers, propagators and tissue culture specialists (fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, and turf), crop inspectors, crop production advisors, extension specialists, plant breeders, research scientists, and of course, teachers.
College courses that complement Horticulture are biology, botany, entomology, chemistry, mathematics, genetics, physiology, statistics, computer science, and communications, 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. Some careers in horticultural science require a masters (MS) or doctoral (PhD) degree.
Horticulture takes place in many gardens and plant growth centres. Plants are often grown as seedlings within plant nurseries. Activities in nurseries range from preparing seeds and cuttings to growing fully mature plants. These are often sold or transferred to ornamental gardens or market gardens.
[edit] Horticulture and anthropology
The origins of horticulture lie in the transition of human communities from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary or semi-sedentary horticultural communities, cultivating a variety of crops on a small scale around their dwellings or in specialized plots at some remove (such as the "milpa" or maize field of Mesoamerican cultures[1]). In forest areas such horticulture is often carried out in swiddens ("slash and burn" areas)[2]. A characteristic of horticultural communities is that useful trees are often to be found planted around communities or specially retained from the natural ecosystem.
Horticultural communities may be distinguished from agricultural ones by (1) the small scale of the cultivation, using small plots of mixed crops rather than large field of single crops (2) the use of a variety of crops, often including fruit trees (3) the encouragement of useful native plants alongside direct cultivation (4) continued use of other forms of livelihood. In pre-contact North America the semi-sedentary horticultural communities of the Eastern Woodlands (growing maize, squash and sunflower) contrasted markedly with the mobile hunter-gatherer communities of the Plains people. In Central America, Maya horticulture involved augmentation of the forest with useful trees such as papaya, avocado, cacao, ceiba and sapodilla. In the cornfields, multiple crops were grown such as beans (using cornstalks as supports), squash, pumpkins and chili peppers, in some cultures tended mainly or exclusively by women [3].
[edit] Gallery
 Cool climate greenhouses extend the growing season |  Community gardens often have several horticultural practices in use |
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