Horticulture Overview

Horticulture is a branch of science which deals with the art and technology of growing fruits, vegetables and flowers, besides other crops, such as medicinal plants, mushrooms, plantation crops, etc. There are tremendous employment opportunities all over the globe in the field of horticulture, especially floriculture and landscape architecture, and there is a big demand of skilled persons.

Need for Skill Development Manuals

Since literature designed specifically for enhancing practical based vocational teaching is grossly lacking, hence a series on Skill Development Manuals was designed and the first book entitled "A Handbook for Skill Development : Nursery Management of Horticultural Crops" has been designed with the specific objective of formulating exercises for the students along with a brief description of the theoretical aspects involved, to give hands-on training and expertise in propagation and management of nursery plants.

Contents of the Manual

The manual comprises 27 lab activities sectioned into 5 sections and it covers all aspects of media, containers, structures for propagation of horticultural crops, sexual and asexual methods of propagation, Hi-tech nursery raising techniques and finally, how to maintain nursery records and packaging and transportation of nursery plants.

Target Audience

Since propagation and nursery management is the basic pillar of horticulture, the manual is useful for all students studying Horticulture starting at the Intermediate level, B.Sc. as well as M.Sc. and especially for the B.Voc. students studying any trade in horticulture. This is also useful for the skilled human resource employed in the Government nurseries, development departments, gardeners, commercial nurserymen, amateur horticulturists, etc.