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Horticulture

Course developers

Replaced course

LauZB011 [GLAUB011] Horticulture

Course abstract

Students get familiar with diversity of horticultural plants, their ecological requirements, growing aspects, the diversity of propagation methods and the growing of plants, and the preconditions for quality production. In laboratory and practical works, students acquire an in-depth understanding of horticultural plants and practical skills in their propagation, growing, caring and quality assessment.

Learning outcomes and their assessment

1. Students know the classification of horticultural plants, methods of their propagation, plant growing organisation, technology diversity and the conditions for marketing them - test 1
2. Students know the diversity, structure and ecological requirements of horticultural plants, garden installation and care, crop care, harvesting and storage – tests 2, 3 and 4
3. Students know the diversity of ornamental plants, their ecological requirements, as well as design, installation and care of greenery plantings– test 5
4. Students are able to recognise horticultural plants, independently perform major work operations in the propagation and growing of plants, planting, caring, harvesting and crop quality assessment - laboratories and practical works
5. Students are competent to study and collect information independently, to design and plan sustainable production of horticultural plants, to prepare presentations and to justify their decisions and views – individual work

Course Content(Calendar)

I Introduction (4 h)
1. Place of horticulture in the agricultural production system, its economic importance, its spotlight and perspective. The role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition - 1 h
2. Legislative regulations in horticulture - 1 h
3. Classification and systematics of the horticultural plants – 2 h
II Propagation of the horticultural plants (14 h)
4. Methods of generative and vegetative propagation of the horticultural plants - 1 h.
5. Propagation of annual and perennial horticultural plants with seeds — 3 h
6. Methods of vegetative propagation of horticultural plants by rooting- 3 h
7. Propagating of the horticultural plants by grafting – 3 h
8. Types of plant production: bare-roots plants, plants with closed root system. The technological process of plant production. Types of nurseries. Structure of nursery farms, selection of propagation material – 2 h.
9. Regulations regarding propagation material of horticultural plants. Certified and standard material. Plant passports – 1 h.
Test 1. Introduction to Horticulture, propagation of horticultural plants
III Fruit production (16 h)
10. Diversity of fruit plants – 2 h
11. Effects of fruit plant construction features on garden care, production and lifespan - 1 h
12. Characteristics of fruit plant vegetation and dormancy periods, their effects on production and winter hardiness - 1 h
13. Yield formation and care of yield of fruit plants. Annual and bi-annual production – 1 h
14. Fruit plant cultivars – 1 h
15. Quality analysis of fruits and berries. Conditions for high quality yield – 2 h
16. Conditions for selection of fruit and berry orchard sites, orchards systems and installation technological processes -2 h
17. Maintenance of soil and plants in the garden, special features of crown construction, depending on the species, rootstock, age of plants and type of garden - 4 h
18. Harvesting and storage of fruits and berries - 1 h.
Test 2. Fruit production
IV Vegetable production (16 h)
19. Vegetable diversity, their morphological and biological characteristics and ecological requirements – 2 h
20. Resources used in vegetable production and factors affecting their effectiveness – 1 h
21. Specialisation in vegetable production and factors affecting choice of specialisation direction – 1 h
22. Aspects of vegetable plant production – 3 h
23. Production of vegetables under open-field and greenhouse conditions – 6 h
24. Vegetable storage characteristics and technologies – 2 h
Test 3. Vegetable production
V Alternative horticulture (14 h)
25. Alternative farming directions, their competitiveness assessment and development opportunities - 1 h
26. Diversity of spicy and medicinal plants, their production – 4 h
27. Production of edible flowers -1 h
28. Production of non-traditional vegetables – 1 h
29. Production of cultivated mushrooms: champignons, shitake, ouster-mushrooms, truffle - 2 h
30. Variety of non-traditional fruit/berry plants, their cultivation and use characteristics – 4 h
Test 4. Alternative horticulture
VI Ornamental plants and their use (14 h)
31. Diversity of ornamental plants. Introduction of ornamental plants -2 h
32. Characteristics of cultivation and marketing of ornamental nursery plants – 1 h
33. Importance of the site-specific ecological factors in the choice of plants for greenery– 1 h
34. Assortment of woody plants and assessment of their ornamental properties - 3 h
35. Organisation of the greenery planting area. Planning of the greenery planting establishment works. Greenery project - 4 h
36. Installation and care of plants of greenery plantation - 2 h
Test 5. Ornamental plants
Workshop on Individual work – presentations on the cultivation of specific horticultural plants, selecting the horticultural direction of interest – 2 h.

Requirements for awarding credit points

An exam.
Students who have successfully passed all tests, have developed and got credited practical and laboratory works and have successfully presented their Individual work can take the exam

Description of the organization and tasks of students’ independent work

Individual work: “Project for Sustainable... (specific specie of the horticultural plant) production”, including an overview of professional and scientific literature, a plantation project (including an area plan), a description of the works to be carried out, the potential volume of production to be obtained and the marketing directions. The work shall be submitted in written form and presented to the student group at the seminar.

Criteria for Evaluating Learning Outcomes

The final evaluation of the examination shall be the average mark from the examination and the tests written during the semester and the individual job marks.
It is possible to obtain the accumulating exam rating as the arithmetic mean from the tests written during the semester and the individual job marks, if their score is not lower than 7.

The laboratory, practical and individual works shall be evaluated in accordance with the procedures for assessment specified in the laboratory, practical and individual works tasks

Compulsory reading

Temperate and Subtropical Fruit Production. Ed. by D. Jackson and N. E. Looney. 2nd ed. Wallingford; New York: CABI Publishing Portland Timber Press, 1999. 332 400 p.
Janick P., Janick J., Paull, Robert E. The Encyclopedia of Fruit & Nuts. Edited by J. Janick and R.E. Paull. Wallingford, UK; Cambridge, MA: CAB International, 2008. 954 p.
Modern technology in vegetable production. Ed. by P. Hazra. Pitam Pura, New Delhi: New India Publishing Agency, 2011. 413 p.
Handbook of vegetable science and technology: production, composition, storage, and processing. Ed. by D. K. Salunkhe, S.S. Kadam. New York etc.: Marcel Dekker CRC Press, 1998. 721 p.
Brickell C. RHS Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Great Britain: Dorling Kindersley, 2010. 744 p.
Container Nursery Production and Business Management Manual. J. P. Newman, technical editor. Oakland, California: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2014. 345 p.
Plant propagation: Principles and practices. Hudson T. Hartmann, Dale E. Kester, Fred T. Davies a.o. Upper Saddle River, (NJ): Prentice Hall, 1997. 770 p.

Further reading

Westwood M. K. Temperate-Zone Pomology. Physiology and Culture. 3rd ed. Portland: Timber Press, 1993. 535 p.
Valero D., Serrano M. Postharvest biology and technology for preserving fruit quality [elektroniskais resurss]. Daniel Valero and Maria Serrano. Boca Raton, Fla.: Taylor & Francis Group, 2010. 287 p. [tiešsaiste] [skatīts 23.09.2019.] Pieejams:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429093333
Gough B. An encyclopedia of small fruit [elektroniskais resurss]. Bob Gough. Binghamton, N.Y.: Haworth Food & Agricultural Products Press, 2007. 161 p. [tiešsaiste] [skatīts 23.09.2019.] Pieejams:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429114915
Rosa L. A., Alvarez-Parrilla E., González-Aguilar G A. Fruit and vegetable phytochemical: chemistry, nutritional value and stability. Ames, Iowa, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. 367 p.
Postharvest: The physiology and handling of fruit, vegetables and ornamentāls. 5th edition. By R.Wills, 2007. 252 p.
Royal Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Garden Design. Editor-in-Chief; C. Young. Great Britain: Dorling Kindersley, 2009. 360 p.

Periodicals and other sources

Acta Horticulturae. ISSN: 0567-7572
Journal of Tree Fruit Production. ISSN 1540-8590

Notes

Restricted Elective Course in academic bachelor study programme “Sustainable Agriculture” specialization in Sustainable Plant Production