Horticulture

Agriculture is witnessing some critical problems regarding cropping system, land use system, input utilization, marketing, and monetary returns. Factors including unavailability of land for agriculture, expanding urbanization, demand for higher productivity, and returns from the cultivable land are majorly responsible for serious problems of soil salinity and high-water table in irrigated areas. To overcome these limitations, horticulture is gaining tremendous attention globally. This technology is a science and art of sustainable production, utilization, and improvement of intensively cultivated food and ornamental plants. Horticulture is the branch of plant agriculture concerned with the cultivation of garden crops, carrying out cultural operations, growing, and intensively manipulating plants. It relies on manipulating growth, harvesting, packaging, marketing, storage, and processing. India is the second-largest producer occupying an area of 6.98 million hectares in the world after China. Horticultural crops comprise a wide variety including annual and perennial species, spices, delicious fruits and vegetables, medicinal and decorative indoor and landscape plants. Horticulture is divided into the following categories-

• Pomology
• Olericulture
• Floriculture
• Landscape gardening
• Preservation of fruit and vegetables
• Silviculture
• Plantation crops
• Spices and condiments
• Aromatic and medicinal plants
• Sericulture
• Apiculture
• Mushroom production

Horticulture crops perform a vital role by providing better physical health, nutritious food, beautification of houses, improving mental health, and mobility of muscles. The consumption of fruits, vegetables meet the needs of the human body by giving them nutrition for their better living or activities. The scope of horticulture technology is-

• Increased production of fruit vegetables to meet the population’s needs.
• Improving the productivity of the land.
• Enhancing exports.
• Generating employment.
• Improving the economic conditions of the farmers.

Consumption of green vegetables and fresh fruits and juices used as medicine also prevents us from various chronic or acute diseases. Horticulture crops are useful for cultivation in the wasteland or poor-quality soil thus being more profitable than agricultural crops. Various industries including processing, pharmaceutical, perfumery and cosmetics, chemical, confectionery, and oils and paints are using horticulture crops as their raw material. The Horticulture sector is a great source of foreign exchange and has both national and international demand.

SNI Publications invites you to share your knowledge and recent advancement in Horticulture by publishing your work with the Journal of Biomedical and Biological Sciences also a small piece of information that can be shared here itself in the comment section.