1st Year Horticulture Definition

Analytical purity: The purity test deals with physical purity.

Species purity: The purity test deals with the number of seeds of other species.
Cultivar purity: The purity test deals with the genetic quality of a seed lot.
Seed moisture content: The water content in seed and which can determine whether seed
will retain viability from harvest to subsequent sowing.
Freedom from weed seeds: It can be considered as part of purity test deals with weed
seeds of a seed lot.
Health: The test deals with the storage fungi in a seed lot.
Size: The test of actual size resulting in seed of differing weights and uniformity of size.
Seed vigour: The sum total of those properties of the seed which determine the level of
activity and performance of the seed or seed lot during germination and seedling
emergence.
Germination capacity: The test deals with storage potential and planting value.
Uniformity: The test deals with the content of pure seed other seed and inert matter.
Seed quality: A collection of seed properties considered to be of importance for the value of
seed for sowing purposes.
High quality seed: The seed performs well at sowing purpose.
Weed seed: The seed of weed.
Storage potential: the storage capability of the seed.
Other seed: The seed with the specific purpose seed but not for the target and it include
crop seed and weed seed.
Priming: A form of seed planting preparation, in which seeds are soaked before planting.
Respiration: The chemical breakdown of complex organic substances, such as
carbohydrates and fats, that takes place in the cells and tissues of animals and plants, during
which energy is released and carbon dioxide produced.
Soaking injury: Seed with damaged coats the rate of water uptake is much more rapid and
the time for reorganisation and repair of cellular membranes is reduced.
Hydraulic conductivity: Ability of the water move through the soil.

Germination phase: The state and period for seed germination.

Seed germination: All the processes including the development of a normal seedling.
Seed: The result of fertilisation of an ovule.
Epigeal germination: Dicotyledons plants bring their cotyledons above ground during
germination.
Hypogeal germination: Cotyledons remain below ground and do not become
photosynthetic, serving only as a food reserve.
Seed coat: Protective barrier between external environment and the embryo and nutritive
tissue.
Water potential: The measure of the relative tendency of water to move from one area to
another.
Imbibition phase: The state and period the seed uptake water for germination.
Maximum/Minimum germination temperature: The curve tends to infinite time to 50%
germination at the upper and lower ends of the temperature range.
Gibberellic acid: A hormone found in plants promoting growth and elongation of cells.
Seed dormancy: Any viable seed that does not germinate when provided with favorable
conditions.
Primary dormancy: The sum effect of the dormancy mechanisms established in the mature
seed during development on the parent plant.
Secondary dormancy: The dormancy induced by environmental factors other than those
experienced during seed development on the parent plant.
True dormancy: The situation where the embryo itself is metabolically incapable of
germination.
Imposed dormancy: The inhibition of seed germination by a factor arises from outside the
embryo.
Quiescene: A non-dormant state where growth is not occurring simply because one or more
of the basic environmental factors required for growth is absent.
Seed bank: The sum total of all viable seed.
Relative dormancy: The dormancy depends on environmental stimuli received by parent
during the seed ripening period.
Hardseedeness: The presence of a hard seed coat.

After-ripening: Some species produce seed that are incapable of immediate germination
because their embryos are either physiologically or morphologically immature. They do not
require any specific environmental stimuli to break dormancy but need to be stored for a
period to complete their development, this period if after-ripening. The part of imposed
dormancy or true dormancy or a type of dormancy on its own.
Phytochrome: A pigment that controls most photomorphogenic responses in higher plants.
Photoeversibility: The ability of the two wavelengths of light to reserve each others effects.
Temporal dispersal: While dormancy is a problem in horticulture production systems it is
nonetheless part of the survival strategy of many plants.
Stratification requirement: The low temperature exposure required to break dormancy for
hydrated seeds.
Germination inhibitors: The inhibition factors of the seed germination.
Physical constraint of embryo growth: The seed coat or surrounding tissues may prevent
germination by constrain the embryo.
Dormancy cycle: The cycle illustrates the different definition concepts of dormancy.
Annual crop-short term: Crop with short production cycles and capable of more than one
crop per 12 month period.
Annual crops Long term: only one crop cycle possible in a year.
Perennial crop: Crop can be harvested annually for several years.
Indoor crops: Annual short-term, annual long-term or perennial crop grown in door.
Outdoor crops: Generally paddock grown but can include extensive crops and intensive
crops and anything in-between.
Niche: Very specialised systems established.
Organic: All crops and are often philosophically driven.
Nursery and seedling: All crops including annual crops, perennial crop, outdoor crops and
indoor crops.
In-situ planting: Seeds are sown directly in the space they will grow in through to maturity,
also known as direct seeding/planting.
Bare-root transplants: transplants produced in nursery systems are planted directly into the
ground or indoor production system where they will be grown to maturity.
Cell transplants: plants produced in specialist systems. These transplants are generally more
expensive to produce.

Fresh market: markets are generally local requiring good postharvest systems
Processed market: adding value to produce and extending their marketability
Harvest: All year (sequential) or part-year (often a one-off harvest).
Plants with specific harvest windows: Can only harvest in specific season.
Commodity crops: generally grown in bulk volume because they may be lower value by
weight.
Niche market crops: High value and often export orientated
ISTA: Standard for International Seed Testing Association.
Lag phase of germination: The period of physiological activity and diminish cell division of
an embryonic plant seed turn to be seedling.
Bud-burst: The plants bud breaks the seed coat.
Photoperiodism: Response to duration and timing of day and night, a mechanism evolved
by organisms for measuring seasonal time.
Pollination: The process by which pollen is transferred in the reproduction of plants,
thereby enabling fertilization and sexual reproduction.
Herbs: A non-woody seed plant with a relatively short-lived aerial portion.
Commodity: A marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs.
Locule: A cavity within a sporangium or a cavity of the ovary in which ovules occur.
Cultivar: A variety of plant found only under cultivation.
Rootstock: A plant sometimes just a stump, which already has an established, healthy root
system, onto which a bud from another plant is grafted.
Harvest window: Sequential or one-off harvest.

2nd Year Horticulture Definition

Horticulture: the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing
soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings
Perennials: a plant that lives for more than two years.
Annuals: a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season
Biennials: a flowering plant that takes two years to complete its biological lifecycle

Soilless systems: Growing plants without soil. Soilless culture: an artificial means of
providing plants with support and a reservoir for nutrients and water.
Soil electrical conductivity (EC): a measurement that correlates with soil properties that
affect crop productivity, including soil texture, cation exchange capacity (CEC), drainage
conditions, organic matter level, salinity, and subsoil characteristics.
Nutrient electric conductivity: a measure of how well a material accommodates the
transport of electric charge.
Hydroponics: method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without
soil
NFT systems: method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without
soil
pH: a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueouos solution
Scion: wood/material introduced in grafting
Biennial bearing: trees that have an irregular crop load from year to year
Soil structure: the arrangement of soil aggregates
Stolon: A shoot that bends to the ground or that grows horizontally above ground and
produces roots and shoots at the nodes.
Clones: Genetically identical plant material
Plant species: a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile
offspring.
Yield potential: the yield of a crop cultivar when grown in environments to which it is
adapted, with nutrients and water non-limiting, and pests and diseases effectively
controlled.
Yield: The amount of plant crop (such as cereal, grain, fruit or legume) harvested per unit
area for a given time. In agriculture, the crop yield is a measure of the marketable portion
of a crop or dry matter quantity in a particular area.
Mulch: the layer of material applied to the surface of an area of soil
Vernalisation: the acquisition of a plants ability to flower in the spring by exposure to the
prolonged cold of winter.
Seed vigour: The sum total of those properties of the seed which determine the level of
activity and performance of the seed or seed lot during germination and seedling
emergence
Fruit: a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.

Vegetable: the leaf, stem, or root of a plant

Viabilitya measure of whether a seed is alive or dead, as determined by a laboratory
germination test carried out under optimum conditions.
Topography: the surface feature of an area
Chilling requirement: the minimal necessary duration of chilling length for any particular
variety.
Microclimate: the climate of a small area. It is a local atmospheric zone where the climate
differs from the surrounding area.
Allelopathic: suppression of growth of a plant by a toxin released from a nearby plant of the
same or another species.
Hydrophilic: water loving
Harvest window: the period of the crop can be harvested
Herbaceous: plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing
season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground.
(T90-T10): the interval between the germination of 10% and 90% of the seeds germinated.
Imbibition: seed uptake water for germination
Drum priming: a non-osmotic method of priming seeds
Intraspecific competition: a particular form of competition in which members of the same
species vie for the same resource in an ecosystem.
Traceability: the ability to verify the history, location, or application of an item by means of
documented recorded identification.
Plant density: number of stems per hectare
T50: the time it takes for the middle seed (i.e. 50%) of the final total population of live
seeds to germinate.
Day neutral photoperiod: the developmental responses of plants to the relative neutral
lengths of the light and dark periods
Seed pelleting: the process of adding inert materials to seeds to change their size and shape
for improved plantability.
Inert media: A material added to alter the plantability.
Crop establishment: period from planting to self-managing status (water, nutrients etc) whether from seed, transplants or cuttings for annuals or grafts, cuttings or juvenile
plants for perennials. Time phase can vary greatly

In-situ crops: crops planted directly where they are to grow to maturity
Seedlings: juvenile plants raised from seed
Cell transplants: seedlings raised in specialist systems using cell trays. Generally the most
expensive type of seedlings available
Bare root transplants: seedlings raised and lifted from specialist beds for planting out
Grafting: the process of matching cut surfaces of stock and scion to produce new growth
Intermediate stock: stock sometimes used to introduce characteristics such as vigour or
dwarfing prior to new cultivars
Budding: use of a single bud as a scion grafted onto rootstock often raised from seed or
cuttings
Crown grafts: often used to introduce new cultivars in fruit and vines. Several cuttings are
inserted against a cut branch or main stem
Splice or whip graft: used on small diameter materials with matching slope-cuts made to
both stock and scion the whip and tongue graft is a variation of this
Cleft graft: where the rootstock is much larger than the scion, the scion is cut into a
wedge end and inserted into a cut (split) in the stock
Saddle grafts: a wedge shape cut into the rootstock with a matching cut into the scion
Bridge grafts: often used to repair tree damage. Scion(s) used to bridge bark damage e.g.
ring barking by pests.
Approach graft: both stock and scion are grown in containers and shallow slices made so
they are fitted together before cutting from the parent plants. Allowed to callus before
removing.
Layering: branches of a plant are pegged into the grown and allowed to form roots before
cutting from the parent
Tissue culture: micropropagation using meristematic cuttings
Callus: a mass of parenchyma cells that forms as a scab at the site of wounds on
plants/weedy materials
Clonal: (a population) genetically identical cells or individuals - applied to cuttings and
tissue culture plants
Coppice: a style of tree/crop management where they are cut at ground level regularly (e.g
3-5 yearly intervals) and regrowth encouraged
Woodlots: tree plantations grown for use as energy and/or renewable fuel

Transplant shock: the response of transplant seedlings after planting out. It can take
several days/weeks for some plants to recover.
Espalier: a style of training (vines and trees) where branches are trained against a wall (as in
grapes
Seed coating: application of a chemical or chemicals to the seed to improve some aspect of
seed performance, for example, germination or seedling emergence.
Bulb: a specialized underground organ consisting of a short, fleshy, usually vertical stem axis
(basal plate) bearing at the top a growing point or a flower bud enclosed by thick, fleshy
scales
Corm: the swollen base of a stem axis enclosed by dry, scale-like leaves.
Tuber: a underground storage organ that is derived by the swelling of an outgrowth from a
stem or root.
Rhizome: a specialised stem structure in which the main stem of the plant grows
horizontally at or just below the soil surface.
Tip-raised potted plant: Small containerised plants produced from runner tips, generally
grown for 35 weeks in 50-cell plastic trays with cell depths of 56 cm
These produce an average crown diameter of 811 mm
Tray plants: Containerised plants produced from runner tips, typically grown over a 5 month
period in 8, 12, or 16 cell plastic trays with individual cell depths of 89 cm. These produce
an average crown diameter of 1518 mm
Waiting-bed plants: Fresh-dug nursery plants with a crown diameter of 17 mm or more.
Fresh-dug: A field nursery-grown strawberry plant that is dug and transplanted to the bareroot plant production field within several days.
Frigo plants: Dormant strawberry plants stored for several months at 1.5 C
Competition: plants within a crop influence each other through their absorption of water,
minerals and interception of light, usually to the detriment of neighbouring plants.
Intraspecific competition: competition between different parts of the same plant.
Yield components: those factors of a crop which contribute to yield.
Rotation: where different crops are grown each year on the same land.
Quality assurance: providing evidence needed to establish quality in work, and that
activities are being performed effectively.