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99-498: A horticultural industry is an organization devoted to the study and culture of cultivated plants. Such organizations may be local, regional, national, or international. Some have a more general focus, whereas others are devoted to a particular kind or group of plants. They are also clustered. The oldest horticultural society in the world, founded in 1768, is the Ancient Society of York Florists. They still have four shows

198-493: A sporocarp , ngardu ( Marsilea drummondii ). Indigenous Australians used systematic burning, fire-stick farming , to enhance natural productivity. In the 1970s and 1980s archaeological research in south west Victoria established that the Gunditjmara and other groups had developed sophisticated eel farming and fish trapping systems over a period of nearly 5,000 years. The archaeologist Harry Lourandos suggested in

297-454: A highly efficient, simplified, precise, and low cost method of altering the genomes of species. Since 2013, CRISPR has been used to enhance a variety of species of grains, fruits, and vegetables. Crops are modified to increase their resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors such as parasites, disease, and drought as well as increase yield, nutrition, and flavour. Additionally, CRISPR has been used to edit undesirable traits, for example, reducing

396-451: A horticulturist may consider aspects based on the plants intended use and can include plant morphology, rarity, and utility. When selecting plants for the landscape, there are necessary observations of the location that must be made first. Considerations as to soil-type, temperature/climate, light, moisture, and pre-existing plants are made. These evaluations of the given environment are taken into consideration when selecting plant material for

495-535: A low-density agriculture in loose rotation; a sort of "wild" permaculture . A system of companion planting called the Three Sisters was developed in North America . Three crops that complemented each other were planted together: winter squash , maize (corn), and climbing beans (typically tepary beans or common beans ). The maize provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating

594-588: A north–south pattern with a variety of different climatic zones in close proximity to each other. This fostered the domestication of many different plants. At the time of first contact between the Europeans and the Americans, the Europeans practiced "extensive agriculture, based on the plough and draught animals," with tenants under landlords, but also forced labor or slavery, while the Indigenous peoples of

693-721: A number of hypotheses to explain the historical origins of agriculture. Studies of the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies indicate an antecedent period of intensification and increasing sedentism ; examples are the Natufian culture in the Levant , and the Early Chinese Neolithic in China. Current models indicate that wild stands that had been harvested previously started to be planted, but were not immediately domesticated. Localised climate change

792-576: A single genetic origin from the wild rice Oryza rufipogon , in the Pearl River valley region of China. Rice cultivation then spread to South and Southeast Asia. The major cereal crops of the ancient Mediterranean region were wheat, emmer , and barley, while common vegetables included peas, beans, fava , and olives, dairy products came mostly from sheep and goats, and meat, which was consumed on rare occasion for most people, usually consisted of pork, beef, and lamb. Agriculture in ancient Greece

891-567: A special focus on horticulture for development (H4D), which involves using horticulture to reduce poverty and improve nutrition worldwide. GlobalHort is organized in a consortium of national and international organizations which collaborate in research, training, and technology-generating activities designed to meet mutually-agreed-upon objectives. GlobalHort is a non-profit organization registered in Belgium. History of agriculture Agriculture began independently in different parts of

990-641: A specific emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade and export. The Romans laid the groundwork for the manorial economic system, involving serfdom , which flourished in the Middle Ages. The farm sizes in Rome can be divided into three categories. Small farms were from 18 to 88 iugera (one iugerum is equal to about 0.65 acre). Medium-sized farms were from 80 to 500 iugera (singular iugerum ). Large estates (called latifundia ) were over 500 iugera. The Romans had four systems of farm management: direct work by

1089-464: A variety of methods. Covering plants with plastic in the form of cones - called hot caps, or tunnels, can help to manipulate the surrounding temperature. Mulching is also an effective method to protect outdoor plants from frost during the wintertime. Inside, other frost prevention methods include the use of wind machines, heaters, and sprinklers. Plants have evolved to require different amounts of light, and lengths of daytime; their growth and development

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1188-478: A year in York, UK. They have a large archive of records, including the original members book dating back to 1768.The American Horticultural Society inspires a culture of gardening and horticultural practices that creates and sustains healthy, beautiful communities and a livable planet. This horticulture article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Horticulture Typically, horticulture

1287-565: Is a charity in United Kingdom that leads on the encouragement and improvement of the science, art, and practice of horticulture in all its branches. The organization shares the knowledge of horticulture through its community, learning programs, and world-class gardens and shows. The Chartered Institute of Horticulture (CIH) is the Chartered professional body for horticulturists and horticultural scientists representing all sectors of

1386-500: Is characterized as the ornamental, small-scale/non-industrial cultivation of plants; horticulture is distinct from gardening by its emphasis on scientific methods, plant breeding, and technical cultivation practices, while gardening, even at a professional level, tends to focus more on the aesthetic care and maintenance of plants in gardens or landscapes. However, there are aspects of horticulture that are industrialized/commercial such as greenhouse production or CEA. Horticulture began with

1485-457: Is determined by the amount of light/light intensity that they receive. Control of this may be achieved artificially through the use of fluorescent lights in an indoor setting. Manipulating the amount of light also controls flowering. Lengthening the day encourages the flowering of long-day plants and discourages the flowering of short-day plants. Water management methods involve employing irrigation/drainage systems, and controlling soil moisture to

1584-644: Is extrapolated as evapotranspiration is increased, soils are degraded of their nutrients, and oxygen levels are depleted, resulting in up to a 70% loss in crop yield. Living organisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, insects, weeds and native plants are sources of biotics stresses and can deprive the host of its nutrients. Plants respond to these stresses using defence mechanisms such as morphological and structural barriers, chemical compounds, proteins, enzymes and hormones. The impact of biotic stresses can be prevented using practices such as incorporate tilling, spraying or Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Care

1683-540: Is from around 21,000 BC with the Ohalo ;II people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee . By around 9500 BC, the eight Neolithic founder crops  – emmer wheat , einkorn wheat , hulled barley , peas , lentils , bitter vetch , chickpeas , and flax  – were cultivated in the Levant . Rye may have been cultivated earlier, but this claim remains controversial. Regardless, rye's spread from Southwest Asia to

1782-723: Is no soil used. Growers within a greenhouse setting will often opt for a soilless mix which does not include any actual components of naturally occurring soil. These mixes offer advantages such as water absorption, sterility, and are generally very available within the industry. Soil management methods are broad, but includes the use of fertilizers, planned crop rotation to prevent the degradation of soils that are seen in monocultures, applying fertilizers, and soil analysis. Abiotic factors such as weather, light and temperature are all things that can be manipulated with enclosed environments such as cold frames, greenhouses , conservatories , poly houses and shade houses. Materials that are used in

1881-632: Is often referred to as the "Yam Belt", due to its high production of yams. The guineafowl is a poultry bird that was domesticated in West Africa, and while the time of the guineafowl's domestication remains unclear, there is evidence that it was present in Ancient Greece during the 5th century BC. Several species of coffee were also domesticated throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, with Coffea arabica originating in Ethiopia and serving as

1980-429: Is required to reduce damages and losses to horticultural crops during harvest. Compression forces occur during harvesting, and horticultural goods can be hit in a series of impacts during transport and packhouse operations. Different techniques are used to minimize mechanical injuries and wounding to plants such as: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) has recently gained recognition as

2079-407: Is required to support a rapidly growing population with demands for its products. Due to global climate change, extremes in temperatures, strength of precipitation events, flood frequency, and drought length and frequency are increasing. Together with other abiotic stressors such salinity, heavy metal toxicity , UV damage, and air pollution, stressful environments are created for crop production. This

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2178-484: Is the favoured explanation for the origins of agriculture in the Levant. When major climate change took place after the last ice age (c. 11,000 BC), much of the earth became subject to long dry seasons. These conditions favoured annual plants which die off in the long dry season, leaving a dormant seed or tuber . An abundance of readily storable wild grains and pulses enabled hunter-gatherers in some areas to form

2277-605: Is the oldest known field systems in europe. The horse was domesticated in the Pontic steppe around 4000 BC In Siberia . Cannabis was in use in China in Neolithic times and may have been domesticated there; it was in use both as a fibre for ropemaking and as a medicine in Ancient Egypt by about 2350 BC. In northern China , millet was domesticated by early Sino-Tibetan speakers at around 8000 to 6000 BC, becoming

2376-541: Is the semi-tough rachis and larger seeds of cereals from just after the Younger Dryas (about 9500 BC) in the early Holocene in the Levant region of the Fertile Crescent . Monophyletic characteristics were attained without any human intervention, implying that apparent domestication of the cereal rachis could have occurred quite naturally. Agriculture began independently in different parts of

2475-578: The Bronze Age of central Europe, c. 1800–1500 BC. Claims of much earlier cultivation of rye, at the Epipalaeolithic site of Tell Abu Hureyra in the Euphrates valley of northern Syria , remain controversial. Critics point to inconsistencies in the radiocarbon dates, and identifications based solely on grain, rather than on chaff . By 8000 BC, farming was entrenched on the banks of

2574-684: The Eastern United States dates to about 3000 BCE. Several plants were cultivated, later to be replaced by the Three Sisters cultivation of maize, squash, and beans. Sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 7000 BC. Bananas were cultivated and hybridized in the same period in Papua New Guinea . In Australia , agriculture was invented at a currently unspecified period, with

2673-656: The Inca Empire of South America grew large surpluses of food which they stored in buildings called Qullqas . The most important crop domesticated in the Amazon Basin and tropical lowlands was probably cassava , ( Manihot esculenta ), which was domesticated before 7000 BCE, likely in the Rondônia and Mato Grosso states of Brazil . The Guaitecas Archipelago in modern Chile was the southern limit of Pre-Hispanic agriculture near 44° South latitude, as noted by

2772-638: The International Society for Horticultural Science and the American Society of Horticultural Science . In the United Kingdom, there are two main horticulture societies. The Ancient Society of York Florists is the oldest horticultural society in the world and was founded in 1768; this organization continues to host four horticultural shows annually in York , England. Additionally, The Royal Horticultural Society , established in 1804,

2871-476: The Levant , although wheat was the first to be grown and harvested on a significant scale. At around the same time (9400 BC), parthenocarpic fig trees were domesticated. Domesticated rye occurs in small quantities at some Neolithic sites in (Asia Minor) Turkey, such as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c. 7600 – c. 6000 BC) Can Hasan III near Çatalhöyük , but is otherwise absent until

2970-801: The Middle Ages , both in Europe and in the Islamic world , agriculture was transformed with improved techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees such as the orange to Europe by way of Al-Andalus . After the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Columbian exchange brought New World crops such as maize , potatoes , tomatoes , sweet potatoes , and manioc to Europe, and Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips , and livestock including horses, cattle, sheep, and goats to

3069-577: The Nile . About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, probably in China, with rice rather than wheat as the primary crop. Maize was domesticated from the wild grass teosinte in southern Mexico by 6700 BC. The potato (8000 BC), tomato , pepper (4000 BC), squash (8000 BC) and several varieties of bean (8000 BC onwards) were domesticated in the New World. Agriculture

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3168-745: The Sahel region of Africa , sorghum was domesticated by 3000 BC in Sudan and pearl millet by 2500 BC in Mali. Kola nut and coffee were also domesticated in Africa. In New Guinea , ancient Papuan peoples began practicing agriculture around 7000 BC, domesticating sugarcane and taro . In the Indus Valley from the eighth millennium BC onwards at Mehrgarh , 2-row and 6-row barley were cultivated, along with einkorn, emmer, and durum wheats, and dates. In

3267-716: The Yucatán Peninsula . The indigenous people of the Eastern U.S. domesticated numerous crops . Sunflowers , tobacco , varieties of squash and Chenopodium , as well as crops no longer grown, including marsh elder and little barley . Wild foods including wild rice and maple sugar were harvested. The domesticated strawberry is a hybrid of a Chilean and a North American species, developed by breeding in Europe and North America. Two major crops, pecans and Concord grapes , were used extensively in prehistoric times but do not appear to have been domesticated until

3366-428: The domestication of plants around 10,000-20,000 years ago. At first, only plants for sustenance were grown and maintained, but eventually as humanity became increasingly sedentary, plants were grown for their ornamental value. Horticulture emerged as a distinct field from agriculture when humans sought to cultivate plants for pleasure on a smaller scale rather than for mere sustenance. Emerging technologies are moving

3465-467: The 1980s that there was evidence of 'intensification' in progress across Australia, a process that appeared to have continued through the preceding 5,000 years. These concepts led the historian Bill Gammage to argue that in effect the whole continent was a managed landscape. Torres Strait Islanders are now known to have planted bananas . In New Guinea , archaeological evidence suggests that agriculture independently emerged around 7,000 years ago with

3564-518: The 19th century. The indigenous people in what is now California and the Pacific Northwest practiced various forms of forest gardening and fire-stick farming in the forests, grasslands, mixed woodlands, and wetlands, ensuring that desired food and medicine plants continued to be available. The natives controlled fire on a regional scale to create a low-intensity fire ecology which prevented larger, catastrophic fires and sustained

3663-541: The Americas practiced "intensive agriculture, based on human labour." Europeans wanted control of land for the grazing of their livestock and property rights for the control of production. Though they were impressed with the productivity of traditional farming techniques, they saw no connection to their system and were dismissive of Native American practices as "gardening" rather than a commercializable enterprise. Due to several thousand years of selective breeding, maize ,

3762-680: The Americas. Irrigation , crop rotation , and fertilizers were introduced soon after the Neolithic Revolution and developed much further in the past 200 years, starting with the British Agricultural Revolution . Since 1900, agriculture in the developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large rises in productivity as human labour has been replaced by mechanization , and assisted by synthetic fertilizers, pesticides , and selective breeding . The Haber-Bosch process allowed

3861-523: The Atlantic was independent of the Neolithic founder crop package. Rice was domesticated in China by 6200 BC with earliest known cultivation from 5700 BC, followed by mung , soy and azuki beans. Rice was also independently domesticated in West Africa and cultivated by 1000 BC. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 11,000 years ago, followed by sheep . Cattle were domesticated from

3960-591: The Eastern Woodlands of North America. Sumerian farmers grew the cereals barley and wheat , starting to live in villages from about 8000 BC. Given the low rainfall of the region, agriculture relied on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Irrigation canals leading from the rivers permitted the growth of cereals in large enough quantities to support cities. The first ploughs appear in pictographs from Uruk around 3000 BC; seed-ploughs that funneled seed into

4059-599: The Gods, as well as were given in ceremonies to leaders to demonstrate their connection to the Gods. Plant propagation in horticulture is the process in which the multiplication of a species is performed, increasing the number of individual plants. Propagation involves both sexual and asexual methods. In sexual propagation seeds are used, while asexual propagation involves the division of plants, separation of tubers, corms, and bulbs - by use of techniques such as cutting, layering, grafting. When selecting plants to cultivate,

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4158-641: The Indus Valley Civilization. Records from the Warring States , Qin dynasty , and Han dynasty provide a picture of early Chinese agriculture from the 5th century BC to 2nd century AD which included a nationwide granary system and widespread use of sericulture . An important early Chinese book on agriculture is the Qimin Yaoshu of AD 535, written by Jia Sixie. Jia's writing style was straightforward and lucid relative to

4257-773: The Middle Ages. Early practices in horticulture include a number of various ways that people managed the land (using an assortment of tools), with a variety of methods and types of plants cultivated for a number of uses. Methods, tools and plants grown, have always depended on the culture and climate. There are a number of traditional horticultural practices that we know of today: such as the Indigenous peoples of pre-colonized North America using biochar to enhance soil productivity by smoldering plant waste - European settlers called this soil Terra Preta de Indio . In North America, Indigenous people grew maize, squash, and sunflower - among other crops. Mesoamerican cultures focused on

4356-830: The New Zealand Horticulture Institute is another known horticultural organization. In India, the Horticultural Society of India (now Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences) is the oldest society which was established in 1941 at Lyallpur, Punjab (now in Pakistan) but was later shifted to Delhi in 1949. The other notable organization in operation since 2005 is the Society for Promotion of Horticulture based at Bengaluru. Both these societies publish scholarly journals – Indian Journal of Horticulture and Journal of Horticultural Sciences for

4455-739: The Ptolemaic grain market also played a critical role in the rise of the Roman Republic . In the Seleucid Empire , Mesopotamia was a crucial area for the production of wheat, while nomadic animal husbandry was also practiced in other parts. In the Greco-Roman world of Classical antiquity , Roman agriculture was built on techniques originally pioneered by the Sumerians, transmitted to them by subsequent cultures, with

4554-617: The above sources have been converted to BC.) In the Andes region, with civilizations including the Inca , the major crop was the potato , domesticated between 8000 and 5000 BC. Coca , still a major crop to this day, was domesticated in the Andes, as were the peanut , tomato , tobacco , and pineapple . Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC. Animals were also domesticated , including llamas , alpacas , and guinea pigs . The people of

4653-679: The advancement of horticultural sciences. Horticulture in the Indian state of Kerala is spearheaded by Kerala State Horticulture Mission . The National Junior Horticultural Association (NJHA) was established in 1934 and was the first organization in the world dedicated solely to youth and horticulture. NJHA programs are designed to help young people obtain a basic understanding of horticulture and develop skills in this ever-expanding art and science. The Global Horticulture Initiative (GlobalHort) fosters partnerships and collective action among different stakeholders in horticulture. This organization has

4752-473: The browning and production of toxic and bitter substances of potatoes. CRISPR has also been employed to solve issues of low pollination rates and low fruit yield common in greenhouses. As compared to Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO), CRISPR does not add any alien DNA to the plant's genes. There are various organizations worldwide that focus on promoting and encouraging research and education in all branches of horticultural science; such organizations include

4851-567: The central west coast and eastern central Australia, forms of agriculture were practiced. People living in permanent settlements of over 200 residents sowed or planted on a large scale and stored the harvested food. The Nhanda and Amangu of the central west coast grew yams ( Dioscorea hastifolia ), while various groups in eastern central Australia (the Corners Region) planted and harvested bush onions ( yaua – Cyperus bulbosus ), native millet ( cooly, tindil – Panicum decompositum ) and

4950-407: The construction of these buildings are chosen based on the climate, purpose and budget. Cold frames provide an enclosed environment, they are built close to the ground and with a top made of glass or plastic. The glass or plastic allows sunlight into the frame during the day and prevents heat loss that would have been lost as long-wave radiation at night. This allows plants to start to be grown before

5049-591: The cultivating of crops on a small scale, such as the milpa or maize field, around their dwellings or in specialized plots which were visited occasionally during migrations from one area to the next. In Central America, the Maya involved augmentation of the forest with useful trees such as papaya , avocado , cacao , ceiba and sapodilla . In the fields, multiple crops such as beans, squash, pumpkins and chili peppers were grown. The first horticulturists in many cultures, were mainly or exclusively women. In addition to

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5148-679: The cultivation of plant material professionally. There are many different types of horticulturists with different job-titles, including: gardener , grower, farmer , arborist , floriculturist , landscaper , agronomist, designer, landscape architect, lawn-care specialist, nursery manager, botanical garden curator, horticulture therapist, and much more. They may be hired by a variety of companies/institutions including, but not limited to: botanical gardens, private/public gardens, parks, cemeteries, greenhouses, golf courses, vineyards, estates, landscaping companies, nurseries, educational institutions, etc. They may also be self-employed. Horticulture began with

5247-538: The domestication of crops such as bananas and taro . Pigs and chickens were imported to New Guinea, which were later innovated by other Pacific Island nations, such as those in Polynesia . The Middle Ages saw further improvements in agriculture. Monasteries spread throughout Europe and became important centers for the collection of knowledge related to agriculture and forestry. The manorial system allowed large landowners to control their land and its laborers, in

5346-458: The domestication of plants 10,000-20,000 years ago, and has since, been deeply integrated into humanity's history. The domestication of plants occurred independently within various civilizations across the globe. The history of horticulture overlaps with the history of agriculture and history of botany , as all three originated with the domestication of various plants for food. In Europe, agriculture and horticulture diverged at some point during

5445-603: The earliest levels of Merhgarh, wild game such as gazelle , swamp deer , blackbuck , chital , wild ass , wild goat, wild sheep, boar , and nilgai were all hunted for food. These are successively replaced by domesticated sheep, goats, and humped zebu cattle by the fifth millennium BC, indicating the gradual transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. Maize and squash were domesticated in Mesoamerica ; potatoes in South America, and sunflowers in

5544-501: The elaborate and allusive writing typical of the time. Jia's book was also very long, with over one hundred thousand written Chinese characters , and it quoted many other Chinese books that were written previously, but no longer survive. The contents of Jia's 6th century book include sections on land preparation, seeding, cultivation, orchard management, forestry, and animal husbandry. The book also includes peripherally related content covering trade and culinary uses for crops. The work and

5643-516: The end of the Paleolithic into the Neolithic, between around 10,000 BC and 4000 BC. This was made possible with the development of basin irrigation. Their staple food crops were grains such as wheat and barley, alongside industrial crops such as flax and papyrus . Archaeological evidence also suggests that the spread of agriculture in Egypt was facilitated by farming communities associated with

5742-433: The first settled villages at this time. Across Western Eurasia it was not until approximately 4,000 BC that farming societies completely replaced hunter-gatherers. These technologically advanced societies expanded faster in areas with less forest, pushing hunter-gatherers into denser woodlands. Only the middle-late Bronze Age and Iron Age societies were able to fully replace hunter-gatherers in their final stronghold located in

5841-635: The form of peasants or serfs . During the medieval period, the Arab world was critical in the exchange of crops and technology between the European, Asia and African continents. Besides transporting numerous crops, they introduced the concept of summer irrigation to Europe and developed the beginnings of the plantation system of sugarcane growing through the use of slaves for intensive cultivation. By AD 900, developments in iron smelting allowed for increased production in Europe, leading to developments in

5940-595: The globe and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin . Some of the earliest known domestications were of animals. Domestic pigs had multiple centres of origin in Eurasia, including Europe, East Asia and Southwest Asia, where wild boar were first domesticated about 10,500 years ago. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 11,000 BC and 9000 BC. Cattle were domesticated from

6039-584: The globe, and included a diverse range of taxa . At least eleven separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin . The development of agriculture about 12,000 years ago changed the way humans lived. They switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming. Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 104,000 years ago. However, domestication did not occur until much later. The earliest evidence of small-scale cultivation of edible grasses

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6138-494: The growing season starts. Greenhouses/conservatories are similar in function, but are larger in construction and heated with an external energy source. They can be built out of glass, although they are now primarily made from plastic sheets. More expensive and modern greenhouses can include temperature control through shade and light control or air-conditioning as well as automatic watering. Shade houses provide shading to limit water loss by evapotranspiration. Commercial horticulture

6237-874: The hemisphere's most important crop, was more productive than Old World grain crops. Maize produced two and one-half times more calories per acre than wheat and barley. The earliest known areas of possible agriculture in the Americas dating to about 9000 BC are in Colombia , near present-day Pereira , and by the Las Vegas culture in Ecuador on the Santa Elena peninsula . The plants cultivated (or manipulated by humans) were lerén ( Calathea allouia ), arrowroot ( Maranta arundinacea ), squash ( Cucurbita species), and bottle gourd ( Lagenaria siceraria ). All are plants of humid climates and their existence at this time on

6336-442: The horticultural industry across Great Britain, Ireland and overseas.  It is the only horticultural professional body where its top professionals can achieve Chartered status and become a Chartered Horticulturist. The Australian Institute of Horticulture and Australian Society of Horticultural Science was established in 1990 as a professional society to promote and enhance Australian horticultural science and industry. Finally,

6435-415: The industry forward, especially in the way of altering plants to be more adverse to parasites, disease and drought. Modifying technologies such as Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR/Cas9), are also improving the nutrition, taste and yield of crops. There are many horticultural organizations and societies found around the world, that are formed by horticulturists and those within

6534-822: The industry. These include the Royal Horticultural Society , the International Society for Horticultural Science , and the American Society of Horticultural Science . There are divisions and sub-divisions within horticulture, this is because plants are grown for many different reasons. Some of the divisions in horticulture include: It includes the cultivation of all plants including, but not limited to: ornamental trees/shrubs/plants , fruits , vegetables , flowers , turf , nuts , seeds , herbs and other medicinal/edible plants. This cultivation may occur in garden spaces, nurseries , greenhouses , vineyards , orchards , parks , recreation areas, etc. Horticulturists, are those who study and practice

6633-442: The late 2nd century, heavy ploughs had been developed with iron ploughshares and mouldboards . These slowly spread west, revolutionizing farming in Northern Europe by the 10th century. ( Thomas Glick , however, argues for a development of the Chinese plough as late as the 9th century, implying its spread east from similar designs known in Italy by the 7th century.) Asian rice was domesticated 8,200–13,500 years ago in China, with

6732-775: The location. Plant selection may be for annual displays, or they may be for more permanent plantings. Characteristics of the plant such as mature height/size, colour, growth habit, ornamental value, flowering time and invasive potential are what finalizes the plant selection process. Environmental factors that effect plant development include: temperature, light, water, pH, nutrient availability, weather events (rain, snow, sleet, hail and freezing rain, dew, wind and frost) humidity, elevation, terrain, and micro-climate effects. In horticulture, these environmental variables may be avoided, controlled or manipulated in an indoor growing environment. Plants require specific temperatures to grow and develop properly. Temperature control can be done through

6831-429: The main crop of the Yellow River basin by 5500 BC. They were followed by mung , soy and azuki beans. In southern China, rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River basin at around 11,500 to 6200 BC, along with the development of wetland agriculture , by early Austronesian and Hmong-Mien -speakers. Other food plants were also harvested, including acorns , water chestnuts , and foxnuts . Rice cultivation

6930-413: The main production of modern-day coffee since the late 15th century. Indigenous Australians were predominately nomadic hunter-gatherers . Due to the policy of terra nullius , Aboriginals were regarded as not having been capable of sustained agriculture. However, the current consensus is that various agricultural methods were employed by the indigenous people. In two regions of Central Australia,

7029-600: The medicinal and nutritional values that plants hold, plants have also been grown for their beauty, and to impress and demonstrate power, knowledge, status and even wealth of those in-control of the cultivated plant material. This symbolic power that plants hold has existed even before the beginnings of their cultivation. There is evidence that various gardens maintained by the Aztecs were sacred, as they grew plants that held religious value. Plants were grown for their metaphorical relation to Gods and Goddesses. Flowers held symbolic power in religious rites, as they were offered to

7128-499: The mention of the cultivation of Chiloé potatoes by a Spanish expedition in 1557. In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was transformed through human selection into the ancestor of modern maize, about 7,000 BC. It gradually spread across North America and to South America and was the most important crop of Native Americans at the time of European exploration. Other Mesoamerican crops include hundreds of varieties of locally domesticated squash and beans , while cocoa , also domesticated in

7227-665: The most densely forested areas. Unlike their Bronze and Iron Age counterparts, Neolithic societies couldn't establish themselves in dense forests, and Copper Age societies had only limited success. Early people began altering communities of flora and fauna for their own benefit through means such as fire-stick farming and forest gardening very early. Wild grains have been collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago, and possibly much longer. Exact dates are hard to determine, as people collected and ate seeds before domesticating them, and plant characteristics may have changed during this period without human selection. An example

7326-540: The need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants use, and the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the sunlight , helping prevent the establishment of weeds . The squash leaves also act as a "living mulch ". In the Sahel region, civilizations such as the Mali and Songhai empires cultivated sorghum and pearl millet , which were domesticated between 3000 and 2500 BC. The donkey

7425-469: The needs of the species. Methods of irrigation include surface irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, sub-irrigation, and trickle irrigation. Volume of water, pressure, and frequency are changed to optimize the growing environment. On a small scale watering can be done manually. The choice of growing media and components to the media help support plant life. Within a greenhouse environment, growers may choose to grow their plants in an aquaponic system where there

7524-548: The oldest eel traps of Budj Bim dating to 6,600 BC and the deployment of several crops ranging from yams to bananas. The Bronze Age , from c.  3300 BC , witnessed the intensification of agriculture in civilizations such as Mesopotamian Sumer , ancient Egypt , ancient Sudan , the Indus Valley civilisation of the Indian subcontinent , ancient China , and ancient Greece . From 100 BC to 1600 AD, world population continued to grow along with land use, as evidenced by

7623-538: The origin of the valuable spice trade . In the 1st millennium AD, Austronesian sailors also settled Madagascar and the Comoros , bringing Southeast Asian and South Asian food plants with them to the East African coast, including bananas and rice. Rice was also spread southwards into Mainland Southeast Asia by around 2000 to 1500 BC by the migrations of the early Austroasiatic and Kra-Dai -speakers. In

7722-531: The owner and his family; slaves doing work under the supervision of slave managers; tenant farming or sharecropping in which the owner and a tenant divide up a farm's produce; and situations in which a farm was leased to a tenant. Agricultural history took a different path from the Old World as the Americas lacked large-seeded, easily domesticated grains (such as wheat and barley) and large domestic animals that could be used for agricultural labor. Rather than

7821-661: The playa lakes of the Sahara some 6,500 years ago. Jujube was domesticated in the Indian subcontinent by 9000 BC. Barley and wheat cultivation – along with the domestication of cattle, primarily sheep and goats – followed in Mehrgarh culture by 8000–6000 BC. This period also saw the first domestication of the elephant . Pastoral farming in India included threshing, planting crops in rows – either of two or of six – and storing grain in granaries . Cotton

7920-404: The ploughed furrow appear on seals around 2300 BC. Vegetable crops included chickpeas , lentils , peas, beans, onions , garlic , lettuce , leeks and mustard . They grew fruits including dates , grapes, apples, melons, and figs. Alongside their farming, Sumerians also caught fish and hunted fowl and gazelle . The meat of sheep, goats, cows and poultry was eaten, mainly by the elite. Fish

8019-456: The practice which developed in the Old World of sowing a field with a single crop, pre-historic American agriculture usually consisted of cultivating many crops close to each other utilizing only hand labor. Moreover, agricultural areas in the Americas lacked the uniformity of the east–west area of Mediterranean and semi-arid climates in southern Europe and southwestern Asia, but instead had

8118-474: The production of agricultural implements such as ploughs , hand tools and horse shoes . The carruca heavy plough improved on the earlier scratch plough , with the adoption of the Chinese mouldboard plough to turn over the heavy, wet soils of northern Europe. This led to the clearing of northern European forests and an increase in agricultural production, which in turn led to an increase in population. At

8217-578: The rapid increase in methane emissions from cattle and the cultivation of rice. During the Iron Age and era of classical antiquity , the expansion of ancient Rome , both the Republic and then the Empire , throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Western Europe built upon existing systems of agriculture while also establishing the manorial system that became a bedrock of medieval agriculture. In

8316-774: The region, was a major crop. The turkey , one of the most important poultry birds, was probably domesticated in Mexico or the U.S. Southwest. In Mesoamerica , the Aztecs were active farmers and had an agriculturally focused economy. The land around Lake Texcoco was fertile, but not large enough to produce the amount of food needed for the population of their expanding empire. The Aztecs developed irrigation systems, formed terraced hillsides, fertilized their soil, and developed chinampas or artificial islands, also known as "floating gardens". The Mayas between 400 BC to 900 AD used extensive canal and raised field systems to farm swampland on

8415-476: The semi-arid Santa Elena peninsula may be evidence that they were transplanted there from more humid environments. In another study, this area of South America was identified as one of the four oldest places of origin for agriculture, along with the Fertile Crescent, China, and Mesoamerica, dated between 6200 BC and 10000 BC. (To facilitate comprehension by readers, Radiocarbon calibrated BP dates in

8514-461: The square-pallet chain pump by the 1st century AD, powered by a waterwheel or oxen pulling an on a system of mechanical wheels. Although the chain pump found use in public works of providing water for urban and palatial pipe systems , it was used largely to lift water from a lower to higher elevation in filling irrigation canals and channels for farmland . By the end of the Han dynasty in

8613-432: The style in which it was written proved influential on later Chinese agronomists , such as Wang Zhen and his groundbreaking Nong Shu of 1313. For agricultural purposes, the Chinese had innovated the hydraulic -powered trip hammer by the 1st century BC. Although it found other purposes, its main function to pound, decorticate, and polish grain that otherwise would have been done manually. The Chinese also began using

8712-447: The synthesis of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on an industrial scale, greatly increasing crop yields . Modern agriculture has raised social, political, and environmental issues including overpopulation, water pollution , biofuels , genetically modified organisms , tariffs and farm subsidies . In response, organic farming developed in the twentieth century as an alternative to the use of synthetic pesticides. Scholars have developed

8811-455: The wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and India around 8500 BC. Camels were domesticated relatively late, perhaps around 3000 BC. It was not until after 9500 BC that the eight so-called founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer and einkorn wheat , then hulled barley , peas , lentils , bitter vetch , chick peas and flax . These eight crops occur more or less simultaneously on Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ( PPNB ) sites in

8910-414: The wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and India around 8500 BC. Camels were domesticated late, perhaps around 3000 BC. In subsaharan Africa , sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 3000 BC, along with pearl millet by 2000 BC. Yams were domesticated in several distinct locations, including West Africa (unknown date), and cowpeas by 2500 BC. Rice ( African rice )

9009-471: Was also independently domesticated in West Africa and cultivated by 1000 BC. Teff and likely finger millet were domesticated in Ethiopia by 3000 BC, along with noog , ensete , and coffee . Other plant foods domesticated in Africa include watermelon , okra , tamarind and black eyed peas , along with tree crops such as the kola nut and oil palm . Plantains were cultivated in Africa by 3000 BC and bananas by 1500 BC. The helmeted guineafowl

9108-640: Was cultivated by the 5th–4th millennium BC. By the 5th millennium BC, agricultural communities became widespread in Kashmir . Irrigation was developed in the Indus Valley Civilisation by around 4500 BC. The size and prosperity of the Indus civilization grew as a result of this innovation, leading to more thoroughly planned settlements which used drainage and sewers . Archeological evidence of an animal-drawn plough dates back to 2500 BC in

9207-522: Was domesticated in Nubia at approximately 5000 BC. Archaeological evidence suggests that Sanga cattle may have been independently domesticated in East Africa at around 1600 BC. In the tropical region of West Africa , crops such as black-eyed peas , Sea Island red peas , yams , kola nuts , Jollof rice and kokoro were domesticated between 3000 and 1000 BC. The coastal region of West Africa

9306-632: Was domesticated in West Africa. Sanga cattle was likely also domesticated in North-East Africa, around 7000 BC, and later crossbred with other species. In South America, agriculture began as early as 9000 BC, starting with the cultivation of several species of plants that later became only minor crops. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 8000 BC and 5000 BC, along with beans , squash , tomatoes , peanuts , coca , llamas , alpacas , and guinea pigs . Cassava

9405-584: Was domesticated in the Amazon Basin no later than 7000 BC. Maize ( Zea mays ) found its way to South America from Mesoamerica , where wild teosinte was domesticated about 7000 BC and selectively bred to become domestic maize. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC; another species of cotton was domesticated in Mesoamerica and became by far the most important species of cotton in the textile industry in modern times. Evidence of agriculture in

9504-767: Was hindered by the topography of mainland Greece that only allowed for roughly 10% of the land to be cultivated properly, necessitating the specialised exportation of oil and wine and importation of grains from Thrace (centered in what is now Bulgaria ) and the Greek colonies of Pontic Greeks near the Black Sea . During the Hellenistic period , the Ptolemaic Empire controlled Egypt , Cyprus , Phoenicia , and Cyrenaica , major grain-producing regions that mainland Greeks depended on for subsistence, while

9603-715: Was independently developed on the island of New Guinea . Banana cultivation of Musa acuminata , including hybridization , dates back to 5000 BC, and possibly to 8000 BC, in Papua New Guinea . Bees were kept for honey in the Middle East around 7000 BC. Archaeological evidence from various sites on the Iberian peninsula suggest the domestication of plants and animals between 6000 and 4500 BC. The Céide Fields , located in Ireland consist of extensive tracts of land enclosed by stone walls, these walls date to 3500 BC and

9702-563: Was later spread to Maritime Southeast Asia by the Austronesian expansion , starting at around 3,500 to 2,000 BC. This migration event also saw the introduction of cultivated and domesticated food plants from Taiwan , Maritime Southeast Asia , and New Guinea into the Pacific Islands as canoe plants . Contact with Sri Lanka and Southern India by Austronesian sailors also led to an exchange of food plants which later became

9801-525: Was preserved by drying, salting and smoking. The civilization of Ancient Egypt was indebted to the Nile River and its dependable seasonal flooding. The river's predictability and the fertile soil allowed the Egyptians to build an empire on the basis of great agricultural wealth. Egyptians were among the first peoples to practice agriculture on a large scale, starting in the pre-dynastic period from

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