INTRODUCTION TO

HORTICULTURE

Renerio I. Duallo, Jr., L.Agr., MSc.

Assistant Professor III
Surigao Del Norte State University –Mainit Campus
HORTICULTURE
Word first used in 1600’s
Comes from two Latin words
Hortus “Garden”
Cultura/colere “Cultivation”
Horticulture means “cultivated garden”
or “culture of garden plants”
 LIFE SCIENCES
Biology is the branch of science that
deals with both plant and animal
organisms and life processes.

Zoology is the part of biology that deals with

animals.
Botany is the part of biology that deals with
plants.
 HORTICULTURE
“It’s the ART and SCIENCE of producing
NUTRITIOUS FOOD for the BODY and BEAUTIFUL
FOOD for the SOUL”
The science and practice of growing, processing and
marketing fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants.
 BRANCHES OF HORTICULTURE
Olericulture
The growing and study of vegetables.
Pomology
The growing and study of fruits and nuts.
Viticulture
Study of cultivation and harvesting of grapes
Floriculture
The growing and study of flowers.
 BRANCHES OF HORTICULTURE
Greenhouse Management
The growing and study of plants in greenhouses.
Turfgrass Management
The growing and study of turfgrasses. This includes
home, municipal, and commercial lawns; sports turf
maintenance; highway rights-of-way; and production.
BRANCHES OF HORTICULTURE
Nursery Management
The growing and study of trees and
shrubs that are produced primarily for
landscape purposes.
Arboriculture
The growing and study of trees.
Known as silviculture in forestry.
Synonymous with urban forestry.
BRANCHES OF HORTICULTURE
Landscape Horticulture
The application of design and horticultural
principles to placement and care of plants in the
landscape.
Interiorscaping
The application of design and horticultural
principles to placement and care of plants in
indoor environments.
Landscape

Pattaya City, Thailand Keukenhof, lisse, Netherlands

Interiorscaping
 BRANCHES OF HORTICULTURE
Horticultural Therapy
The use of horticultural plants and methods as
therapeutic tools with disabled and disadvantaged
people.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTION MAY BE
CATEGORIZED AS FOLLOWS:
1. Home gardening – the main intention of the grower is to
produce vegetable crops for home consumption.
2. Market gardening – assorted vegetable crops are grown to
local and roadside markets. Market proximity is a vital
consideration.
3. Truck gardening – large scale type of vegetable production.
Vegetables grown are intended for whole scale market, shipping
to other places or supplying a processing plant.
THE DIFFERENT VEGETABLE CROPS CAN ALSO BE
CLASSIFIED AS THOSE THAT ARE GROWN FOR THEIR
AERIAL PORTION AND THOSE GROWN FOR
UNDERGROUND PORTION.
Examples for aerial portion
1. Cole Crops – Cabbage, cauliflower, brococoli, etc.
2. Legumes – pea, beans
3. Solanaceous – tomato, eggplant, pepper
4. Cucurbits – cucumber, squash, melon
5. Salad crops – lettuce, celery, amaranth
 THE DIFFERENT VEGETABLE CROPS CAN ALSO BE
CLASSIFIED AS THOSE THAT ARE GROWN FOR THEIR
AERIAL PORTION AND THOSE GROWN FOR
UNDERGROUND PORTION
Examples for underground or subterranean portion
1. Rootcrops – Plants grown for their edible fleshy roots.
-have modified roots to function as storage organs
A root is a compact, often enlarged storage organ with hairy stems
that develops from root tissue.

Carrots beets (remolatsa) taro (gabi) yam (ubi)

(Daucus carota) (Beta vulgaris) (Dioscorea spp.)
(Colocasia esculenta)
 THE DIFFERENT VEGETABLE CROPS CAN ALSO BE
CLASSIFIED AS THOSE THAT ARE GROWN FOR THEIR
AERIAL PORTION AND THOSE GROWN FOR
UNDERGROUND PORTION
2. Tuber Crops - Are plants grown for their short thickened underground stem.
-have modified stems or roots to function as both storage and propagation
organs.
- enlarged structures in some plant species used as storage organs for nutrients.

Cassava Ginger Potato

(Manihot esculenta) (Zingiber officinale) (Solanum tuberosum)
THE DIFFERENT VEGETABLE CROPS CAN ALSO BE
CLASSIFIED AS THOSE THAT ARE GROWN FOR
THEIR AERIAL PORTION AND THOSE GROWN FOR
UNDERGROUND PORTION
3. Bulb Crops - structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf
bases that function as food storage organs during dormancy.

Onion
(Allium cepa) Garlic
(Allium sativum)
HORTICULTURE TODAY

ADVENT of TECHNOLOGY
Mechanization
Storage, Marketing, Transportation
Synthetic Fertilizers and Pesticides
Botanical Knowledge
Plant Breeding
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
“Garden of Eden”
 Romanticized garden of paradise.
 Ultimate goal throughout history.
 HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Prehistoric people were
primarily….
Hunters and gatherers.
Collected seeds, fruits, and
nuts.
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Primitive people began to study
plants.
Is it edible?
Does eating it modify well-being?
Does it taste good?
Can it used to keep me warm? As fuel? As
clothing?
Is it useful to combat pain? Disease?
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
When were plants first
cultivated?
Neolithic (New Stone
Age) (20,000 years ago)
First farmers were
women!!!!
 HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Egypt –
birthplace of
Horticulture
Land preparation
Irrigation
Pruning
 HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Ancient Egyptian
gardens contained a
number of elements that
perisist up into modern
time.
The practices of pre-
modern horticulture
were strongly connected
to myth, superstition,
folklore and religion.
 HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Meanwhile in Mesopotamia,
Babylonia, and Assyria…..
Irrigation canals lined with burnt brick and sealed
with asphalt joints.
This system kept 10,000 square miles under
cultivation…..
Which fed 15,000,000 people
Cultivated roses, figs, dates, grapes, and olives.
 HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
Built by Nebuchadnezzar.
One of 7 Wonders of the
Ancient World
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE

The use of plant

products eventually led
to physicians,
pharmacists, and
scientists.
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Theophrastus
1st scientific
horticulturist
Student of Plato and
Aristotle
Wrote the books
History of Plants and
The Causes of Plants.
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
History of Plants
Morphology of roots, flowers, and leaves.
Anatomical features such as bark, pith,
fibers, and vessels.
The Causes of Plants
Relationship of weather, soils, and agricultural practices.
Importance of seeds
Value of grafting
Tastes and flagrances of plants
Death of plants
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Dioscorides
Early Christian Era
Wrote about the medicinal
uses of plants
Proposed ideas about the
relationship of plants
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Middle Ages
Little advancement in horticulture
Arabs (established botanical gardens)
Scientific advances of Greeks and
Romans were preserved in monasteries.
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Swedish botanist.
Developed binomial classification
scheme for plants.
Based on their sexual or
flowering parts.
Basis for all classification systems
today.
Built upon the work of the
Greeks, especially Dioscorides.
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE
As the Renaissance
evolved……
Creation of formal
Gardens
Versailles
Belvedere in Vienna
HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE

Improvements in fruit, nut,

and vegetable production.
Influx of new plants
from “the colonies”.
 Some of these plants became
mainstays of
European diets.
 MODERN DAY HORTICULTURE
New Cultivars
Propagation (Tissue Culture)
SMART Agriculture
AFMA LAW
R.A 8435
Republic Act 8435 known as the
AGRICULTURE AND
FISHERIES MODERNIZATION
ACT (AFMA) of 1997
 It was signed into law in
December 22, 1997 by
President Fidel V. Ramos
 Edgardo J. Angara
Secretary of Department of Agriculture (1999-2001)
Principal author of the AFMA Law
5 Major Concerns
1.Food security
2.Poverty alleviation and social equity
3.Income enhancement and profitability especially
for farmers and fisherfolks
4.Global competitiveness
5.Sustainability
REFERENCES:
Beavington, F. (1965). Early Market Gardening in Bedfordshire.
Transaction of the Institute of British Geographers. No. 37, 91-100.
Berall, J. (1978). The Garden: An Illustrated History. London; Penguin.
Bhagat, D. (2018). Principles of Oxford Book Co.
Chadha, K. (2009). Handbook of Horticulture. Agricultural Science Journal,
Vol. 7, No.6.
Thevenot, R. (1979). A History of Refrigeration Throughout the World.
 “We feed the people,
We feed the nation,
We feed the world!”
-Agriculturists
Thank You!
