Introduction to Vegetable Production

Introduction to Vegetable Production

• Horticulture is the science and practice of intensively cultivating crop plants in a protected area called a garden.
• The term vegetable refers to the tender, edible parts of plants (shoots, leaves, fruits, roots, spices) that are eaten raw or cooked as a supplement.

Branches of Horticulture

• Floriculture is the cultivation of ornamental plants.
• Olericulture involves vegetable crop production.
• Pomology focuses on fruit crop production.
• Landscape horticulture aims to beautify and protect the environment.

Role of Vegetables

• Vegetables supply essential minerals like calcium and iron.
• They act as acid neutralizers.
• They prevent constipation and promote digestion due to fiber content.
• Vegetables are rich in vitamins A, B, and C, which boost immunity.
• Some vegetables provide carbohydrates (potatoes, sweet corn) and protein (green beans, peas).
• Balanced diets include vegetables to prevent nutritional deficiencies.
• Combining vegetables and spices for seasoning and medicine is called Olericulture.

Types of Vegetables

• Leafy vegetables: Leaves and young shoots are eaten. Examples include Amaranthus, celosia, pumpkin, lettuce, cabbage, bitter leaf.
• Fruit vegetables: Immature or mature fruits are eaten. Examples include cucumber, tomato, okra, pumpkin, eggplant.
• Seed vegetables: Important for seed production. Examples include egusi melon and Ito melon.
• Root vegetables: Examples include sweet potato, Irish potato, carrot, and radish.
• Spices: Important for flavor, such as chili pepper, onion, garlic, and basil.

Seasonality of Vegetables

• Cool season vegetables: Cabbage, garlic, onion, radish, spinach, lettuce, potato, and carrot.
• Warm season vegetables: Tomato, pepper, cucumber, okra, eggplant, garden egg, melon, pumpkin, and sweet potato.

Classification of Vegetables

• Vegetables are botanically classified by family, genus, and species.
• Regularly cultivated vegetables: Onion, Amaranthus, Celosia, egusi melon, okra, eggplant, tomato, and pepper.
• Occasionally/Wild vegetables: Mushroom, Basella Rubra, Basella alba, Crassocephallum biafrae.

Maturity Time and Growth Habit

• Short growing period vegetables: Leafy vegetables like Amaranthus spp and Celosia argentea.
• Vegetables harvested over weeks/months: Corchorus spp, Solanum spp, Capsicum spp, tomato, okra, and cucurbits.
• Climbing vegetables: Trained along stakes or walls; examples include snake gourd, fluted pumpkin, ito melon, and basella spp.
• Creeping stem vegetables: Melon, cucumber, and watermelon.

Indigenous Vegetables

• Indigenous vegetables are adapted to hot, humid tropical climates and heavy rainfalls (tropical Africa).
• These serve as supplements to starchy foods and are a source of protein, vitamins, and minerals.
• They are typically cultivated in mixed cropping systems.
• They are commonly grown in compound/backyard farms using household organic waste or farm yard manure with little fertilizer.
• Women play a significant part in production, processing, and marketing.
• Require little money and land to cultivate yielding good profit.

Exotic Vegetables

• Originate in areas with cool/temperate climates.
• Grown in high-altitude areas in Nigeria.
• Includes beet, lettuce, cabbage, radish, carrot, and Irish potato.
• Face challenges mixed in the mixed cropping cultivation as the demand may be low and the growing difficult.

Human Diet & Vegetables

• Vegetables fill in the gaps that are deficient in minerals (calcium plus iron).
• Acid neutralizers includes okra and Corchorus spp .
• Prevents constipation due to fiber.
• Rich in vitamins A, B, and C, lower vulnerabilities to infection.
• Some are rich in carbohydrates (potatoes, sweet corn, carrot).
• Green beans and peas are a cheap source of protein.
• Vernonia (Bitter leaf), Amaranthus and Telfeira provide some amount of protein
• Essential for a balanced diet to overcome deficiencies.

Essential Principles

• Do not involve long investments
• Growers are not bound to produce same crop each year like fruit
• Lacks methodical developed over years
• People with any experience may grow them.
• Land is flexible for it's adaptability.

Practices of Vegetable Production

• Home Gardening provides fresh, local produce, family needs is covered, and income (tax free).
• Market Gardening addresses both family and market needs, tied to urban needs.
• Commercial Production focused on big markets, guided by climate and soil factors.
• Production for Processing provides vegetables made for processing, in similarity with commercial industries.
• Vegetable Forcing modifies the growing environment to produce out of normal season.
• Controlled Environment Agriculture optimizes plant growth via modified environment (light, air, temperature).
• Vegetable Seed Production is a specialized industry; only produces seed, not vegetables directly.

Crop Production Environment

• Significant in plant determination for growth and development, and bases technology production.
• Human Environment is made up of Economic, Institutional, and Social factors.
• Material/Technical Environment considers climate (rainfall), topography/soil, biological elements, and rainfall, relative humidity, temperature, and light.

Environmental factor Issues

• Soil is difficult to manipulate, mostly is generally infertile
• Rainfall is unpredictable
• Temperature/light intensity is generally high (may permit pest development and crop growth year-round)
• No winter period shortens rapid population growth
• Biotic factors are crucial components of farming, they compete with plants for environmental resources.
• Microflora includes bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and algae
• Microfauna consist protozoa and nematodes
• Macro fauna animals
• Light quality determines tissue differentiation
• Light intensity determines dry matter accumulation
• Duration/Photoperiod affect behavior.

Cropping Systems

• Cropping system defines the pattern of growing crops in terms of crop combinations and sequences in time and space dimensions in addition to the cultural practices and technologies with which the crops are grown.
• Monoculture/Sole Cropping involves growing only one type of crop at a time
• Mixed Farming is the agriculture growing crops and rearing livestock on the same piece of land.
• Multiple Cropping involves multiple crops on one piece of land and involves mixed cropping plus intercropping.
• Intercropping has multiple species in contiguous stands on the same land, including row, strip, relay, and patch intercropping.
• Pure intercropping is of no row separation, while row is of a simultaneous planting with a single row planted and strip is of wide rows
• Replay is of simultaneous and sequential use within a life cycle
• Patch is of simultaneous small patches
• Sequential cropping involved two or more crops in sequence on the same land in a year, including multiple sequence patterns, and ratoon (re-growth).
• Crop rotation rotates the crop use.
• Agroforestry combines trees with tree plantation with arable mixed cropping.
• Alley cropping occurs in hedge rows.

Affecting Agricultural Productivity

• Productivity is a ratio between inputs and outputs.

Agricultural Conditions

• Climate/Weather
• Temperature: Each crop has its specific requirements and most plant grows and develops at a temperature range of 15 - 32 degrees C.
• Rainfall/Precipitation: it depends on the time when rain comes.
• Day length/light is necessary for photosynthesis.
• Short-day plants: are Rice, corn, sorghum, and soybean, between September and February
• Long-day plants are Cotton, sunflower, with the longest on June 22.
• Relative Humidity is the water vapor needed to fill atmosphere
• Wind/Air carries carbon dioxide/Nitrogen so plants may grow.

Soil, Germination, & Treatments

• Seeds of fruit and plantation crops categorized into two types: Recalcitrant and orthodox
• Recalcitrant seeds are seeds that cannot withstand drying and should not be permitted to dry out before planting
• Orthodox seeds can keep for longer periods.
• Temperature, chemicals combine with temperature, soaking in water, scarification/scars on seeds may all enhance growth.
• With fungicides as protection, plus use vernalization or cold temperatures or seed inoculation to inoculate from nitrogen loss.
• Use seeds coated and mixed with inoculated items
• Don't use seeds exposed to sunlight
• Cassava and potato can use vegetative methods of the stems (at least 7 months old) for new materials
• Conditions require the need for water plus oxygen.

Varieties

• Use of seeds (the most pure bred) when certified.
• Good seeds contain genetic purity, germination and vigor, mechanical perfection, size, no disease or mixture.
• Seeds can be unviable in 3-12 due to improper handeling/storage.
• To prolong, seal, and cool seed by 12-14 percent.
• In the Philippines, there are several public institutions that undertake research relating to their variety.

Techniques: Nursery Methods for Vegetables

• Nurseries create a place of intensive care as they are economy and have better control on pests.
• Water plus access, fertile soil are needed.
• The following are instruments needed, and require training skilled labor.
• Nursery beds vary per crop (20 leaves for amaranthus or 45 for onions).

Field Establishment Tools and Methods

• Requires the following preparations for plant needs, and consideration: ecological (location), mode(cropping), (season).
• Clearing of vegetation, leveling for maintenance, tillage (use of manual and mechanical help), and weed control (weeds steal sunlight).
• Tools hoe, disk, shovel, garden fork, hand shovel, weed hoe/machete are all suitable to clear, level, till, and prevent weed growth.
• Can be terraced, mulched with cover crops, and utilize strip- and direct-sowing and transplanting.

Planting & Growing Steps

• Broadcasting seeds requires the spreading quantities of seeds into prepared land.
• Row separations and drilling require shallow and evenly organized spacing
• Vegetables are first based inside the nursery, and then transferred onto the field.
• Weeds must be taken cared for (thinning)
• Supplying must be performed to maintain growth
• Staking allows upward growth without soil deterioration
• Mulching aids moisture during the growing seasons
• Watering can cause the onset of disease and requires even intervals.
• Fertilizers are important for vegetable production, plus FYM.

Control Steps

• Weeding is needed, and it can allow an extra 40-60%.
• By fire, hands, prevention.
• Pests are needed to be treated, include soil, or high resistant crops.
• Crop remains disposed of.
• All factors contribute to high production.

Harvests and Distribution

• Harvesting: is the separation of the portion of need from the mother plant.
• Depending on harvest time, and harvest may over time
• Leafy, fruits, or seeding plants can vary.
• Readniness for harvesting affected by climate conditions.
• Post: Post-harvest processing should be followed to allow long distribution and supply.
• These steps may either be total or partial, like trimming, slicing, and drying the materials.
• Fruits are often made to paste or slurry factories.

Storage

• Seeds are never held for too long.
• Storage requires cool and steady conditions.
• Often refrigeration is in use with 10-15 degrees C.

Markets

• Markets should be the last stop for the farm gate for accessibility, which should retain the nature required.

Problems

• Diverse problems with production.
• Pests, climatic , and fertilizer
• Water plus need
• Seed with old viability, and need for technology or pesticides

Composting

• Composting: is the breakdown of any organic material over time through the action of microorganisms into a crumbly, dark, soil-like product in which none of the original.

Reasons

• Composting benefits soil.
• Has phases of heat, cooldown, and maturation.
• High heat sufficient to kill organisms.
• In the second phase, stems are broken up.
• And lastly completed and is ready to distribute.