The Department of Horticulture came into existence with the establishment of the Biswanath College of Agriculture in 1988 with the objective of teaching horticulture in B.Sc. (Agri.) degree programme. The mandate of the department is to expertise the students in the field of horticulture both theoretically and practically. The department has been conducting the UG courses as per 5th Dean’s Committee syllabus since 2016. Experiential learning programme (ELP) on ‘Commercial Horticulture’ was started in the department from 2013-14. All the 4th year, B. Sc. (Hons) Agriculture students of this college and Sarat Chandra Sinha College of Agriculture (SCSCA), Dhubri have been joining ELP conducted by the department since 2017-18. PG programme in the department of Horticulture has been started from the academic session 2011-12 with enrollment of 5 students. Total seats in M. Sc. (Agri) programme in the department has been increased to 6 from 2016-17. From the first batch in 2011-12 to the 10th batch of 2020-21 academic sessions, a total of 52 students have enrolled in M. Sc. (Agri) programme and 40 students have successfully completed M. Sc. (Agri) in Horticulture till 2019-20. At present 12 students are on roll. The department has established one well equipped laboratory to conduct practical classes and to carry out the laboratory works related to researches by the PG students.
An area of 30.0 ha land was earmarked for establishing Instructional cum Research (ICR) farm outside the college campus but 7.2 ha of land was handed over to Central Citrus Research Institute, Nagpur to establish Regional Research Centre for Citrus in 2016-17 as per MoU with Assam Agricultural University. At present, a total of 22.8 ha of land are under the department of Horticulture where field practical classes are conducted, vegetables, flowers and fruit crops are cultivated and field experiments of PG students are conducted. The infrastructures namely, classrooms, polyhouses, net houses, working shed, implement shed, overhead water tank and drip irrigation system in the ICR farm have been developed with the fund available from ICAR, RKVY, Technology Mission and NAHEP. The department is also resourceful with one tractor and one power tiller with their accessories.
Present status of manpower of the department
| Sl. No. | Name | Designation | Specialization | Date of joining in the | |
| AAU service | Department | ||||
| Faculty | |||||
| 1 | Dr. Bhakta Prasad Gautam | Professor & i/c of Department | Vegetable Science | 02/05/1988 | 27/09/2000 |
| 2 | Dr. Dharindra Nath Hazarika | Professor | Fruit Science | 21/10/1988 | 24/07/2009 |
| 3 | Dr. Supriya Langthasa | Professor | Post harvest management | 07/01/1991 | 24/07/2009 |
| 4 | Mrs. Nayanmoni Buragohain | Assistant Professor | Vegetable Science | 08/08/2011 | 13/08/2018 |
| 5 | Dr. Kishalayee Gogoi | Assistant Professor | Floriculture | 05/04/2018 as Ad-hoc | 31/07/2019 |
| 01/08/2019 | 01/08/2019 | ||||
| Supporting staff | |||||
| 6 | Mr. Rituparna Rajashree Das | Field Assistant | --- | 26/10/2015 | 26/10/2015 |
| UG Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | ELP-420 (VII) * | Commercial Horticulture | 5(0 + 5) | |
| 2 | Hort(Elect)-313 | Protected Cultivation | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | Hort-112 * | Fundamentals of Horticulture | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 4 | Hort-112(i) * | Introduction to Forestry | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 5 | Hort-122 * | Production technology for fruit crops | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 6 | Hort-213 * | Production technology of flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants and landscaping | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 7 | Hort-222 * | Post-harvest Management and Value Addition of Fruits and Vegetables, | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 8 | Hort-323 * | Production Technology of Vegetables and Spices | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 9 | THT-212 * | Production Technology of Plantation Crops, | 2(2 + 0) | * courses are compulsory |
| Masters Courses | ||||
| # | Course No. | Course Title | Course Credit | Syllabus |
| 1 | FLA-501 * | BREEDING OF FLOWER CROPS AND ORNAMENTAL PLANTS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 2 | FLA-502 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF CUT FLOWERS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 3 | FLA-503 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY FOR LOOSE FLOWERS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 4 | FLA-504 * | LANDSCAPING AND ORNAMENTAL GARDENING | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 5 | FLA-505 | PROTECTED FLORICULTURE | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 6 | FLA-506 | VALUE ADDITION IN FLOWERS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 7 | FLA-507 * | TURFING AND TURF MANAGEMENT | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 8 | FLA-508 | CAD FOR OUTDOOR AND INDOORSCAPING | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 9 | FSC-501 * | TROPICAL AND DRY LAND FRUIT PRODUCTION | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 10 | FSC-502 * | SUBTROPICAL AND TEMPERATE FRUIT PRODUCTION | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 11 | FSC-503 * | BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION OFFRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 12 | FSC-504 | CANOPY MANAGEMENT IN FRUIT CROPS | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 13 | FSC-505 | PROPAGATION AND NURSERY MANAGEMENT 2+1 FOR FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 14 | FSC-506 * | BREEDING OF FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 15 | FSC-507 | POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY FOR FRUIT CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 16 | FSC-508 | GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OFHORTICULTURAL | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 17 | FSC-509 | BIOTECHNOLOGY OF HORTICULTURAL CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 18 | FSC-510 | ORGANIC HORTICULTURE | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 19 | FSC-511 | PROTECTED FRUIT CULTURE | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 20 | FSC-512 | GAP FOR HORTICULTURAL CROPS | 1(1 + 0) | |
| 21 | FSC-513 | CLIMATE MANAGEMENT IN HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTION | 1(1 + 0) | |
| 22 | PSMA-501 * | Production Technology of Plantation Crops, | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 23 | PSMA-502 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF SPICE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 24 | PSMA-503 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY FOR MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 25 | PSMA-504 * | BREEDING OF PLANTATION CROPS AND SPICES | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 26 | PSMA-505 * | BREEDING OF MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 27 | PSMA-506 * | PROCESSING OF PLANTATION CROPS, SPICES MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 28 | PSMA-507 | ORGANIC SPICE AND PLANTATION CROP PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 29 | PSMA-508 | UNDEREXPLOITED MEDICINALANDAROMATIC CROPS | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 30 | VSC-501 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OFCOOL SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 31 | VSC-501 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OFCOOL SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 32 | VSC-501 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OFCOOL SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 33 | VSC-502 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF WARM SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 34 | VSC-502 * | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF WARM SEASON VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 35 | VSC-503 * | BREEDING OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 36 | VSC-503 * | BREEDING OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 37 | VSC-504 * | GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 38 | VSC-504 * | GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 39 | VSC-505 | SEED PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 40 | VSC-505 | SEEDPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 41 | VSC-506 | SYSTEMATICS OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 42 | VSC-506 | SYSTEMATICS OF VEGETABLE CROPS | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 43 | VSC-507 | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF UNDEREXPLOITED VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 44 | VSC-507 | PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF UNDEREXPLOITED VEGETABLE CROPS | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 45 | VSC-508 | ORGANIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 46 | VSC-508 | ORGANIC VEGETABLE PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY | 2(1 + 1) | |
| 47 | VSC-509 | FUNDAMENTALS OF PROCESSING OF VEGETABLES | 3(2 + 1) | |
| 48 | VSC-509 | FUNDAMENTALS OF PROCESSING OF VEGETABLES | 3(2 + 1) | * courses are compulsory |
# The faculties of the department involve in teaching both UG and PG courses. The faculties involve in supporting the PG researches as Major Advisors and Members of Advisory Committees.
# Faculties are nominated as ‘Counselor’ of group of UG students to mentor them in academic and non-academic matters.
# The department organizes study tour for both UG and PG students in relation to their courses within Assam and other North Eastern states to gain practical knowledge on problems of cultivation of horticultural crops, processing units and established commercial nurseries.
# Practical manuals for different UG courses are published regularly by the faculties.
# The faculties are invited by the other universities as External Examiner for setting and conducting the examinations and evaluation of PG thesis.
A. Establishment of gene bank of underutilized and indigenous fruits of Assam: Establishment of a block of underutilized and indigenous fruits covering an area of more than 2.0 ha has been started at Instructional cum Research (ICR) farm since 2013-14 to conserve the species as some of the species are in the verge of extinction. The gene bank will serve as the source of materials for research and propagation. Twenty two species from different parts of Assam have already been collected and planted in the field. The collection and planting of new species is still going on.
B. Establishment of Progeny Block of fruit plants: A fund of Rs 25.0 lakh was received after submission of a project (as Big Nursery) to the Directorate of Horticulture & Food Processing, Govt. of Assam under MIDH in 2014-15 for quality planting material production. Under this project, a progeny block of fruit plants has been established in 2015-16. Fruit crops planted as mother plants are mango (Amrapali and Dashehari), Guava (Allahabad Safeda, L-49 and Lalit) and Litchi (Late Bedana). These will serve as good sources of scions, bud sticks for production of planting materials
C. Establishment of high density orchard of guava: Guava varieties namely, Allahabad Safeda, L-49, Lalit, RCGH-1 and RCGH-4 were planted in July, 2016 at a spacing of 2.5m x 2.5m.
D. Peach plantation: Three low chilling required varieties namely, Flordasum, TA-170 (Partap) and Shan-e-Punjab were planted at 2.5 m x 2.5 m spacing in July, 2016.
E. Assam Lemon Plantation: Two blocks of seedless Assam Lemon plantations are being maintained for production of fruits as well as production of rooted cuttings.
F. Banana plantation: Five banana varieties - Amritsagar (AAA), Malbhog (AAB), Chenichampa (AAB), Red Banana (AAA) and Kachkal (ABB) are being maintained at the farm mainly for sucker production.
G. Establishment of areca nut based tea plantation: Establishment of areca nut based tea plantation in 1.0 ha of land at ICR farm has been started in 2021-22.
H. Development of infrastructures: Infrastructure like Class rooms (2 nos.), Poly houses, Net houses, working shed, implement shed, drip irrigation systems, overhead water reservoir have been developed with the funds available from ICAR, NAHEP, RKVY and Directorate of Horticulture & Food Processing, Govt. of Assam
