Horticulture is the art of cultivation and growth of various types of plants such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, herbal and medicinal plants, mushrooms, flowers, ornamental trees, nuts, seeds, algae, non-food crops, etc.

A horticulturist aims to use his knowledge and abilities for improving plant growth, nutrition, the yield of crops, resistance to pests and diseases, the value of nutrition in plants, production of the newer generation of plants.

A person who pursues horticulture as a profession is known by different names like gardeners, designers, growers, technical advisors on horticulture, and therapists.

Also Read: Fine Arts

Scope

The scope for Horticulture is vast and on the rise. Horticulture encompasses floriculture. Floriculture is the cultivation of flowering. This product from this type of cultivation in Horticulture is used as a raw material in the perfume and cosmetics industry.

Another important branch of Horticulture is pomology. Pomology is a part of Horticulture deals with fruit cultivation with the goal of improvement of fruit quality, regulating production periods, and reducing the costs of production. Pomology, as a part of horticulture, involves planting, harvesting, storing, processing, and marketing of fruit and nut crops. The branch of Horticulture with deals with the growing of vegetables in an aforesaid manner is called Olericulture. 

Ornamental Horticulture deals with growing decorative plants and flowers for the purpose of decoration, landscaping.

The following are the profiles available for a horticulturist :

• Public Garden Management, Landscaping and Collection of Plants
• Sales and production as a part of managing a cultivable land for catering plants or for food processing.
• Marketing and sale of processed or fresh fruits and vegetables
• Development and improvement of plant and crop yield and quality.
• Teaching and professing horticulture and it’s streaming.
• Agricultural engineering involves soil fertility management.
• Landscape designing.
• Plant Pathologist
• Plant Care worker
• Pest Management.
• An array of government jobs.
• Nursery Staffer
• Horticulture Inspector

The Bachelor courses available in Horticulture are B.sc in Horticulture (3 years) and Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech). Similarly, Masters and Ph.D. courses are also available in Horticulture.

Best colleges for Horticulture in India are

• Adiparashakti Agricultural College
• Agricultural College Aswaraopet
• Agricultural College and Research Insititute, Killikulam
• Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat
• Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu
• Apex Professional University (APU)
• Arunachal University of Studies
• Assam Agricultural University
• Banda University of Agriculture and Technology
• Bhagwant University Rajasthan
• Institute of Horticulture Research, Bangalore
• Central Institute of Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow
• Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Jammu and Kashmir

Also Read: Kinesiology

Top Universities offering courses in Horticulture abroad

• Wageningen University & Research Centre, Holland, Netherlands
• Cornell University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, New York, USA, 
• Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture
• College of Horticulture, Thrissur
• The College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES), UC Davis, USA
• Ghent University, Belgium
• Aarhus University, Denmark
• University of Queensland
• Texas A&M University
• Mississippi State University
• Michigan State University
• The University of Florida
• The University of Nebraska
• The University of Wisconsin
• University of Georgia
• Iowa State University
• Ohio State University
• Kansas State University
• North Carolina State University
• Washington State University
• Oregon State University
• Virginia Tech, etc.