Fundamentals of Horticulture

This book Fundamentals of Horticulture covers the entire scope and importance, classification, role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, economic geography of horticulture, nursery techniques and their management, soil and climate, gardening, orchard management, planting system and density, training and pruning, growth regulators, management of water, weed and fertility; cropping systems, mulching, bearing habit, rejuvenation of orchards, and organic farming. Simple and lucid language has been used for easy understanding of the beginners.

The book is illustrated with photographs and diagrams. Questions are set at the end of each chapter to assess the understanding of the students.

Bhaskar Chandra Das (b.1964) graduated from the College of Agriculture, Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar in 1986 and joined OUAT service in 1987 as Research Assistant. He completed M.Sc. (Ag) in Horticulture with specialization in vegetable science in 1993 from OUAT and continued serving under OUAT. He has been associated with different research projects like NARP (presently Regional Research and Technology Transfer Sub-Stations), All India Co-ordinated Potato Improvement Project, Seed Technology Research, NSP (Crops) and PG Department of Microbiology during his 22 years of service career. He qualified National Eligibility Test conducted by ASRB during 1997 and 1998 in the subject Horticulture and Vegetable Science respectively. He has more than three decades of teaching and research experience in the field of Agriculture and Horticulture. He has published more than twenty-five research papers, seven abstracts, two technical bulletins, five practical manuals and three popular articles. He joined as Assistant Professor in College of Horticulture, OUAT, Chiplima, Sambalpur, Odisha during 2009 and engaged in teaching courses like Fundamentals of Horticulture, Post-Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops, Post-Harvest Management and Value addition of Fruits and Vegetables, Processing of Horticultural Crops, Medicinal and Aromatic crops and Spices & Condiments. He is a life member of Odisha Horticultural Society, Indian Society of Vegetable Science and Trends in Biosciences.

Prof. Bhimasen Naik (b.1961) hails from an agri-horticultural family of Western Odisha (Village: Jamtalia, Tehsil: Sundargarh, District: Sundargarh). He obtained B.Sc. (Ag. & A.H.) and M.Sc. (Ag.) in Genetics and Plant Breeding from Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur in 1981 and 1983, respectively, and Ph.D. from Utkal University, Bhubaneswar in1999. He has been awarded ICAR Junior Research Fellowship and CSIR Senior Research Fellowship during his studies. He is a Fellow of the Indian Society of Genetics & Plant Breeding, New Delhi; and life member of the Crop Improvement Society of India, Ludhiana; the Indian Society of Plant Breeders, Coimbatore; the Society for Advancement of Rice Research, Hyderabad; the Indian Society of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and the Society for Plant Biochemistry & Biotechnology, New Delhi. He has worked on breeding and genetics of ginger, turmeric, mungbean and linseed, and presently working on rice. He has 36 years of research and teaching experience, and is presently working as Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology at Chiplima, Sambalpur, Odisha. He has 52 research papers published in peer-reviewed national and international journals, 23 abstracts of symposia, one book chapter (Springer-Nature) and 20 popular articles to his credit. He has guided one M.Sc. (Ag.) and one Ph.D. student. He is associated in the development of five cultivars in ginger (Suruchi), turmeric (Surama, Ranga and Rashmi) and linseed (Arpita); collaborated in development of three cultivars in rice (Ashutosh, Gobinda and Hasanta) and registered one genetic stock of mungbean (BSN 1, INGR 00011).

Ranjan Kumar Tarai (b.1977) obtained his B.Sc. (Ag.) degree in 1999 from College of Agriculture, Chiplima under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology; M.Sc. (Hort.) in Fruits and Orchard Management and Ph.D. (Hort.) in Fruits and Orchard Management in 2002 and 2006 respectively from Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal. He successfully qualified NET in Fruit Science during 2004 conducted by ASRB, New Delhi. He started his career in 2006 as Subject Matter Specialist (Horticulture) at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Gajapati) and later on joined as Junior Scientist (Horticulture) at Regional Research and Technology Transfer Station, Bhawanipatna and as Programme Coordinator at KVK, Kalahandi under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar. Dr. Tarai is basically a Pomologist inclined to fruit research and teaching. He has an experience of over 14 years of teaching, research and extension. He has published more than 53 research papers in national and international journals, 03 Books (Plant growth regulators in Tropical & SubTropical Fruit Crops Part-I & Part-II and Plant growth regulators in Temperate & Underutlized Fruit Crops), 26 popular articles, 18 book chapters, 20 extension booklets & Newsletters to his credit. He has guided two M.Sc. Ag. (Hort.) students. He is a life member of several societies in the field of Horticulture. He has devoted his works in development and transfer of technologies in fruits (especially minor fruit crops), vegetables and horticulture-based farming system suitable for resource poor area. Currently he is working as Associate Professor (Fruit Science) at College of Horticulture, Chiplima under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar.

Bijaya Kumar Sethy (b.1975) born in village: Bamara, Tehsil: Garadpur, District: Kendrapara. He obtained B.Sc. (Ag.) and M.Sc. (Ag.) in Horticulture (Fruit Science) from Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar in 1996 and 1999, respectively and successfully qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) in 2001 conducted by Agricultural Scientist Recruitment Board (ICAR), New Delhi. He started his career in 2006 as Subject Matter Specialist (Horticulture) at Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Nabarangpur) and later on joined as Assistant Professor (Horticulture) in 2010 at College of Agriculture, Chiplima under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar. He is basically a Horticulturist inclined to various horticultural research, teaching and extension. He has 15 years of research, teaching and extension experience and is presently working as Assistant Professor (Horticulture) at College of Agriculture, Chiplima under the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He has published more than 12 research papers in various journals of national and international repute, 15 abstracts and 10 popular articles (Odia and English), 2 book chapters, 1 book and 3 booklets (Odia) and Newsletter to his credit. He is also life member of several societies in the field of horticulture and reviewer of different journals.