Horticulture Science deals with plant cultivation which has many diverse activities. Horticulture is a branch of agriculture and its crops include trees, bushes and perennial vine fruits; vegetables like roots, tubers, shoots, stems, leaves, fruits and flowers of edible and mainly annual plants; aromatic and medicinal foliage; seeds and roots; cut flowers, potted ornamental plants, bedding plants and ornamental grasses; and production and marketing of floral crops. It has a vital role in establishing nurseries for use in landscaping or for establishing fruit orchards.
Horticulture involves five areas of study. These areas are 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), and post-harvest physiology which involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops.
A horticulturist, whether a gardener or a qualified graduate, has enormous responsibilities. He has to take care of plants, maintaining grass for various purposes, all aspects of wine and winemaking, maintaining the quality of and preventing the spoilage of plants and animals besides maintaining landscape plants.
Horticulture has tremendous scope in India and horticulturists are much in demand. A graduate in horticulture science can be easily absorbed in various government agencies. It is a creative work and demands patience and love for nature. One can also start a business as a floriculturist and pomologist.
Essential Qualifications:
10+2 in any stream from a recognized board
Undergraduate courses:
- B.Sc.
- B.S.
Scope In Horticulture Science :
- Government departments
- Educational institutions
- Tissue culture specialists
- Crop inspectors
- Crop production advisers
- Cropping systems engineers
- Plant breeders
- Research scientists
- Wholesale or retail business managers
- School and college teachers
Institutions for Horticulture Science:
- Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Web : https://angrau.ac.in/angrau/
- Anand Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat. Web : http://www.aau.in/
- Assam Agricultural University (AAU), Jorhat, Assam. Web : http://www.aau.ac.in/
- Birsa Agricultural University (BAU), Ranchi, Jharkhand
- Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal, Manipur. Web : https://www.cau.ac.in/
- Central Institute on Fisheries Education, Mumbai, Maharashtra
- Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Himachal Pradesh. Web : http://www.yspuniversity.ac.in/
- Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Web : https://gbpuat.ac.in/
- Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Web : https://www.iari.res.in/
- Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya (IGKVV), Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Web : http://www.igau.edu.in/
- Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya(JNKVV), Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Web : http://jnkvv.org/
- Junagadh Agricultural University (JAU), Junagadh, Gujarat. Web : http://www.jau.in/
- Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology (MPUAT), Udaipur, Rajasthan. Web : https://www.mpuat.ac.in/
- Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab. Web : https://www.pau.edu/
- Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu & Kashmir. Web : http://www.skuastkashmir.ac.in/
- West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Sciences, Kolkata, West Bengal. Web : https://wbuafscl.ac.in/
Placements:
- State horticulture departments, National Horticulture Board (NHB), Indian Council of Agriculture Research
- Ministry of Agriculture
- Ministry of Urban Planning
- National Research Centre for Agroforestry
- National Centre for Agriculture, Economics & Policy Research
