Horticulture

Learning Objectives

• ARBORICOLTURA GENERALE

  The course intends to give knowledge on the main propagation methods of plants, the biological cycles and the relationships between the vegetative and the reproductive activity of the fruit trees. At the end of the course student will be able to determine the nutrient and water requirements for the main fruit species and to able to establish an orchard; moreover the student will be able to establish the best pruning technique and the main uses of the growth regulators.

• Vegetable and Flower crop

  Provide to the students the know how fundamental to grow and valorise, economically important vegetable, flower and ornamental crops. Provide the knowledge related to the choice and management of the factors and agricultural techniques affecting quantitative, qualitative and timing aspects of production and of shelf life.

Detailed Course Content

• ARBORICOLTURA GENERALE

  Definition of arboriculture. Morphology and physiology of fruit trees. Control of development and fruiting: bud dormancy, vegetative cycle, reproductive cycle; flower induction: sporogenesis, anthesis, pollination, fertilization, sterility, fruit, senescence and abscission; fruit ripening. Use of bioregulators. Propagation and reproduction; morphology and structure of the seed, apomissia and polyembriony, seed dormancy, germination, planting, care for seedlings. Multiplication: polarity, cuttings, micropropagation; graft (graft histogenesis; graft incompatibility - biochemical causes; interstocks). Soil and plant trees: soil chemical and physical characteristics; root development. Nutrients and their functions. Water deficit and water logging. Allelopathy, replanting problems. Soil tillage. Climate and woody plants: radiant energy, tree architecture, temperature, hydrometeors. Humidity. Wind. Control of vegetation and fruiting: the main objective of pruning; training system and planting criteria; training and production pruning. Fruit thinning. Use of bioregolators. Harvesting. Maturity indexes. Traditional and non-destructive methods

• Vegetable and Flower crop

  - Presentation of the course (definition and scopes). - Knowledge of horticultural and floricultural sector: historical development, diffusion and importance, major agro-systems, the productive chains. - Characteristics and classification of vegetable, flower and ornamental crops - The produce: typologies, characteristics, quality profile. - Crop needs related to the climate, the soil, the nugtrition. - Varieties and cultivars; objectives and methods of breeding; registration and protection of plant varieties. - Produce diversification - Crop rotation and intercropping. - The process of cultivation: soil preparation, crop planting, work on the plant and other components agro horticulture. - Systems of specific interest methods and techniques of cultivation for the horticulture and floriculture. - Harvesting: ripening stage and mode. - Post-harvest Operations: Product adaptation to commercial standards; precooling and temporary storage. - Major industrial processing mode of the vegetables.

Textbook Information

• ARBORICOLTURA GENERALE

  Arboricoltura generale. 2012. A cura di Sansavini et al. Pàtron Editore, Bologna

• Vegetable and Flower crop

  1 - Schemi delle lezioni

  2 - Appunti delle lezioni La Malfa G., Noto G. Romano D. Leonardi C.

  3 - Bianco V. V.; Pimpini F., 1990. Orticoltura. Patron Editore, Bologna.

  4 - Accati Garibaldi, E., 1993. Trattato di Floricoltura - Edagricole, Bologna.