Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
nascent scientific discoveries which hold the prospect for generating horticultural
industries with considerable future impact. These include systems modeling and
biology, nanotechnology, robotics, automation and electronics, genetics and plant
breeding, and more efficient and effective use of resources and the employment of
benign microbes. In conclusion there is an estimation of the value of horticultural
science to society.
Keywords
Applied science
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Impact
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Industrial application
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Environmental value
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Social value
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Food supply
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Dietary provision
Introduction
Horticulture is the controlled manipulation of plant reproduction, growth and fruit-
ing applied to crop production, environmental care or social benefit. The word
“profit” is deliberately used in the title indicating that scientific discovery is the
basis for future profitability in the commercial sense but also in pursuit of environ-
mental and social sustainability. This belief draws on the profits which have already
accrued from discoveries and applications in horticulture and horticultural science
and which are elaborated as part of this chapter. This may seem to be a utilitarian
approach from the perspective of purist researchers but accurately reflects the de-
sire of horticultural scientists for close collaboration with end-users. The definition
does not however, adequately convey the intellectual depth of horticultural science
which takes basic and fundamental discoveries and translates these into applicable
and useful knowledge.
Controlled manipulation of plants requires access to and an understanding of
scientific knowledge across multiple disciplines and then its synthesis into applied
science and ultimately technological expertise. Horticultural science's reservoir of
knowledge firstly evolved over many centuries from the original gathering of em-
pirical principles garnered by mankind's founding social cultures. The advent of the
sixteenth century “Scientific Revolution” ultimately produced qualitative and quan-
titative hypothesis and data-driven studies founded on basic research in biology,
chemistry, physics, mathematics, electronics and social and economic disciplines.
As a result, horticultural science has become an applied science which flourishes by
cross-fertilization between itself and other disciplines. Excellence in horticultural
science demands scholastic, intellectual capacities which are capable of identifying
nascent discoveries across the basic sciences and integrating them into processes
and procedures which possess industrial, environmental and social value. Horti-
cultural science deals in both “why” natural processes happen and “how” they may
be manipulated thereby producing ecologically sustainable social and economic
growth. The knowledge gained in itself often contributes back to the fundamental
sciences and enhances basic understanding.
Knowledge of the controlled manipulation of plants emerged long before the
modern era of scientific experimentation. Horticulture is the oldest of all mankind's
arts and sciences. From our earliest civilizations in Babylon, China and South
