The Department of Horticulture came into existence with the establishment of the Assam Agricultural College in 1948 for fulfilling the objective of teaching horticulture in four year B.Sc. (Agri.) degree programme. With the establishment of Assam Agricultural University in 1969, the three mandates of teaching, research and extension in horticulture came into being. The post graduate programme offering M.Sc. (Agri.) degree in Horticulture was started in 1972 while PhD programme in course credit system since 1986. Presently there are 10 seats in MSc (Agri) and 05 seats in PhD programme. The Department started post-graduate programme in Food Science and Technology (FST) since 2014 with yearly intake of 05 students.
Research in the field of Horticulture in Assam was started prior to the establishment of the University. Citrus research was initiated at Government, Citrus Fruit Research Station, Burnihat in 1933. In 1960 Govt. of Assam initiated research on a few fruit Crops in Kahikuchi. A full fledged Horticultural Research Station was established in 1973 at Kahikuchi and a Citrus Research Station at Tinsukia in 1976. Recently Citrus Research Station has been renamed as AAU Citrus and Plantation Crops Research Station and Horticultural Research Station as AAU Horticulture Research Station, Kahikuchi in 2023.
Besides post-graduate research, the department is credited with three numbers of All India Coordinated Projects (AICRP) one each for fruits, vegetables and tuber crops (other than potato) funded by ICAR. Research on horticultural crops in the department derived considerable boosting under (Technology Mission, MM- 1) Horticulture Mission for North Eastern and Himalyas which was in operation from 2001 till 2014.
The competitive projects earned by the faculty members under NATP-CGP, ICAR Ad hoc and DBT sponsored projects which were successfully completed and significant results recommended. At present various coordinated projects as well as Mission for Integrated Development in Horticulture (MIDH) Project with financial assistance from ICAR are in progress. The department has earned three projects respectively from BARC, DBT, IIT which were successfully completed.
In extension front, since inception of the university, the Department of Horticulture has been putting its efforts to address horticultural problems of the state. With the joint efforts of the university and the state Government, package of practices on horticultural crops for the benefit of the farmers of the state has been published. The scientists are putting continuous efforts to disseminate the generated horticultural technologies to the farmers of the state through the existing 23 Krishi Vigyan Kendras in various districts of the state.| UG Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | Elect-313 * | Protected cultivation of Horticultural crops | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 2 | ELP-420 * | Production of Ornamental , medicinal and aromatic plants | 5(0 + 5) | |
| 3 | Hort - 213 * | Production Technology of Ornamental crops, MAP and Landscaping | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | Hort -112(i) | Introduction to Forestry | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 5 | Hort-112 * | Fundamentals of Horticulture | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 6 | THT-212 * | Production technology of plantation crop | 2(2 + 0) | * courses are compulsory |
| Masters Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | FSC 501 * | TROPICAL AND DRY LAND FRUIT PRODUCTION | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 2 | FSC 502 * | SUBTROPICAL AND TEMPERATE FRUIT PRODUCTION | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | FSC 503 * | BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION OF FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | FSC 504 | CANOPY MANAGEMENT IN FRUIT CROPS | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 5 | FSC 505 | PROPAGATION AND NURSERY MANAGEMENT FOR FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 6 | FSC 506 | BREEDING OF FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 7 | FSC 507 | POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY FOR FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 8 | FSC 508 | GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF HORTICULTURAL CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 9 | FSC 509 | BIOTECHNOLOGY OF HORTICULTURAL CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 10 | FSC 510 | ORGANIC HORTICULTURE | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 11 | FSC 511 | PROTECTED FRUIT CULTURE | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 12 | FSC 512 | GAP FOR HORTICULTURAL CROPS | 1(1 + 0) | |
| 13 | FSC 513 | CLIMATE MANAGEMENT IN HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTION | 1(1 + 0) | |
| 14 | VSC 501 | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF COOL SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 15 | VSC 502 | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF WARM SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 16 | VSC 503 | BREEDING OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | * courses are compulsory |
| PhD Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | FSC 601 * | ADVANCES IN BREEDING OF FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 2 | FSC 602 * | ADVANCES IN PRODUCTION OF FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | FSC 603 | ADVANCES IN GROWTH REGULATION OF FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | FSC 604 | GENOMICS AND BIOINFORMATICS IN HORTICULTURE | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 5 | FSC 605 | BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC STRESS MANAGEMENT IN HORTICULTURAL CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | * courses are compulsory |
The department has implemented 5th Dean Committee’s recommendations in formulating UG Course curricula while the PG Course curriculum is being followed as per 4th Dean Committee’s recommendations. Most of the modern tools of education viz. Audio-visual aids, hands on training, skill development, exposure visit etc are used for teaching the students. A number of practical manuals for each course of both Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture have been published for the students.
· Two students are sent for international exposure in Malayasia and Thailand
· One student earned Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship for pursuing PhD
· One student earned ICAR National Fellowship for pursuing PhD
· Two M.Sc and two Ph.D students bagged Bayer’s Fellowship for their study
· Twenty five students cleared ICAR NET.
The Department has been working in the development of many recent technologies in different horticultural crops. The production technologies for different fruit crops, vegetables, flowers and a few medicinal & aromatic plants and also post-harvest technologies have been developed. The relevant research findings have been incorporated in the Package of Practices of Horticultural Crops for the state of Assam .which are being updated with new research findings every two years. Recently, detailed package of practices has been worked out for growing Bhut Jalakia (Capsicum chinense).
Technologies on protected cultivation have been developed and disseminated for high value vegetable and flower crops
The department is giving emphasis on organic cultivation of horticultural crops and organic package has already been developed for a number of vegetables and a few flower crops. Technology for off season flowering of marigold (Summer Marigold) has been developed and recommended.
The department has developed/ identified a number of improved varieties in different crops which are recommended for Assam. Some of these varieties are listed below:
| Sl.No. | Crop | Variety | Remark | ||||
| A. | FRUITS | ||||||
| 1. | Banana | Jahaji | Recommended as a Dwarf Cavendish variety in Assam | ||||
| Chenichampa Malbhog Barjahaji | Recommended as Medium Tall varieties in Assam | ||||||
| Pura Kal Manohar Jati and Bhimkal | Recommended as Tall varieties in Assam | ||||||
| B. | VEGETABLE | ||||||
| 1. | Brinjal | JC 1 JC 2 | Released through CVRC, notified by MoA, Govt. of India and on 8th Sept, 2013 both varieties have come under public domain. | ||||
| 2.
| Amaranthus
| Shyamali and Rodali
| These two varieties are recommended for Assam. | ||||
| C. | FLOWERS | ||||||
| 1. | Gerbera | Red Gem, Classic Beauty, Orange Gleam and Pink Melody | The colours are red, light orange, dark orange and light pink respectively. The no. of flowers per plant per year ranges from 35 to 55. | ||||
| 2 | Anthurium | Fire, Calore, Acropolis, Moment, Evita Pink and Evita Red | The colours are red, white and pink. These varieties are recommended for agro climatic condition of Assam under shade net house in soil less culture. | ||||
| 3 | Chrysanthemum | Snow Ball, Dignity, Sonar Bangla, Heather Gem, White Spider | Standard chrysanthemum varieties (ground and pot) recommended for Assam. | ||||
| Gulmohar, Ravi Kiran, Nirod, Basanti and Prof. Harris. | Spray chrysanthemum varieties (polyhouse) recommended for Assam. | ||||||
| Yellow Bangla, Yellow Decorative, Purple Anemone and Sadbhavana | Superior Spray cultivars for open field (ground & pot) recommended for Assam. | ||||||
| 4 | Gladiolus | American Beauty, Priscilla, Gester, Red Candyman, Sunny Boy, Novalux, Spic and Spun, White Prosperity | The colours of the identified varieties for Assam are bicolour (red and white), yellow, bright pink, deep purple, yellow, bicolour (orange and white) and white respectively. | ||||
| 5 | Marigold | Seracole | Recommended as a Summer Marigold variety for Assam condition. | ||||
.jpg)
