208-336 Production Horticulture

The objective of this subject is to enable students to:

• develop management strategies for selected horticultural crops that integrate environmental influences, site characteristics and maxim crop value;

• describe the steps required to establish a sustainable production enterprise and justify the technology chosen from the options available, including pest control strategies;

• match crop climatic requirements with suitable production regions; and

• describe recent trends in the market for crop products and changes in production technology across the industry in response to these changes, including the impact of world markets and production regions on the Australian industry.

The content includes:

• the production regions in Australia and overseas and the importance of international trade;

• the impact of, climate, soils, processing, and market, on crop yield and value;

• the current production options within the industry including their advantages and disadvantages;

• crop variety characteristics and their production requirements;

• site characteristics and development requirements and matching these with crop requirements when choosing an appropriate production site;

• crop quality assessment and harvest requirements;

• integrated pest management strategies for the control of current and potential pest problems;

• crop management practices through planting, pruning, trellising and training, irrigation, fertilising, pest control and harvesting;

• interactions between crop yield, climatic variables and crop harvest quality; and

• post-harvest treatments and their impact on product quality including cool storage.

Two assignments (2500 words) each 25% and one 2.5-hour exam (50%).