Syllabus
Theory
Importance of vegetables and spices in human nutrition and national economy, kitchen gardening, brief about origin, area, climate, soil, improved varieties and cultivation practices such as time of sowing, transplanting techniques, planting distance, fertilizer requirements, irrigation, weed management, harvesting and yield, physiological disorders of important vegetable and spices (tomato, okra, brinjal, chili, capsicum, cucumber, bitter gourd , bottle gourd, sweet potato, cassava and moringa, pumpkin, French bean, peas; cole crops such as cabbage, cauliflower, knolkhol; bulb crops such as onion, garlic; root crops such as carrot, radish, beetroot; tuber crops such as potato; leafy vegetables such as amaranth, palak, perennial vegetables, spice crops like turmeric, zinger, garlic, coriander, cumin, black pepper, cardamom, fenugreek, fennel, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, curry leaf, tamarind and herbal spices.
Practical
Identification of vegetables and spice crops and their seeds. Description of varieties. Propagation methods – rapid multiplication techniques – seed collection and extraction. Nursery raising. Direct seed sowing and transplanting. Study of morphological characters of different vegetables and spices. Fertilizers applications. Harvesting and post-harvest practices, Economics of vegetables and spices cultivation, visit to spice gardens.