208-252 Production Horticulture (Fruits & Vines)

On completion of this subject students should be able to:

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

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

• match crop climatic requirements with suitable production regions; and

• describe trends in crop product markets and resultant changes in production technology; including the impact of world markets and production regions on the Australian industry.

Content includes:

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

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

• current production options;

• crop variety characteristics and production requirements;

• site characteristics and development requirements, and matching these with crop requirements;

• crop quality assessment and harvest requirements;

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

• 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 including cool storage and their impact on product quality.

Two mid-semester assignments totalling 2500 words (each 25% of final marks) and one 2.5-hour end-of-semester examination (50% of final marks).