Horticulture (Olericulture, Pomology, Floriculture)
Horticulture (Olericulture, Pomology, Floriculture)
This domain tests vegetable production, fruit culture and flower production. Questions cover classification, nursery and propagation, training and pruning, bearing habits and photoperiod responses.
Core rules
- Olericulture deals with vegetables; pomology with fruits; floriculture with flowers. Vegetable classification can be botanical or culinary: tomato is a fruit botanically but a vegetable in culinary use; potato is a tuber.
- Cole crops belong to Brassica oleracea; cucurbits belong to Cucurbitaceae; solanaceous vegetables include tomato, brinjal and chilli.
- Propagation may be sexual (seed) or asexual (grafting, budding, layering, cutting). Mango is grafted; banana is propagated by suckers; strawberry by runners.
- Training shapes the plant; pruning removes unwanted growth. Chrysanthemum is a short-day plant for flowering; mango shows alternate bearing in some varieties.
Worked example
A farmer needs 1,000 tomato seedlings. Nursery germination is 85% and transplanting survival is 90%. Seeds needed = 1,000/(0.85 x 0.90) = 1,307 seeds. If tomato seed averages 320 seeds per gram, seed required = 1,307/320 = 4.1 g. The reasoning is to divide by both success fractions, because losses occur at germination and again at transplanting.
Traps
Do not confuse botanical and culinary classification. Pruning is not the same as training. Not all fruit crops require the same propagation method. Photoperiod responses are crop-specific; short-day does not mean early sowing. Nursery calculations must include both germination and survival losses.