Preparation for the Major for 2 nd year students
Beijing, October 2010
Albertien Kijne
Albertien.kijne@wur.nl

1. Monday, 13.3015.30 o’clock, room 2412
Lesson 1: Assignment 3 for IHM students
2. Tuesday, 19.0021.00 o’ clock, room 2412
Lesson 2
• Wednesday, 8.0012.00 o’ clock, room 2106
Your PPT presentations assignment 2
• Wednesday, 13.3018.30 o’clock, bus
Excursion Xiao Tang Shan (XTS) company
3. Thursday, 19.0021.00 o’ clock, room 2412
Lesson 3
4. Friday, 13.3015.30 o’clock, room 2106
Lesson 4

Supporting lectures about horticultural production
• Horticultural production; differences with arable production
• Open air cultivation and protected cultivation
• Farming systems, especially related to horticultural production
• Plant growth and development
• Pests and diseases (IPM)
• Quality and quality standards
• The value chain

Horticultural production;
Differences with arable production
• More capital intensive
• More labour intensive
• More knowledge intensive
• More focus on individual plants (planting, pruning, inspection for diseases, harvesting)
• Mostly more perishable products: quick and easy quality loss
• Product quality pays more
• Different ways of marketing

What are the differences between horticultural production and arable cropping regarding the use of fertilizer, energy, crop protection agents, waste management and water?

Horticulture: open air cultivation and protected cultivation
• Open air:
– vegetables (cabbages, beans, ...)
– fruits (apples, oranges, grapes, raspberries, ...)
– garden plants, perennials, shrubs, fruit trees, ...
– cut flowers and greens
• Protected cultivation
– vegetables (cabbages, beans, .)
– fruits (apples, oranges, grapes, raspberries, ...)
– garden plants, perennials, shrubs, trees, ...
– cut flowers and greens

Small or large tunnels, with a wooden, bamboo or steel construction

Solar greenhouses (similar to tunnels but now with an extra wall directed to the north to store the warmth of the sun during the day and slowly releasing the warmth during the night)
Why sometimes like this?
Xiao Tang Shan!

Modern greenhouses (made of aluminium and glass and mostly with modern climate control (heating, cooling, ...)
Xiao Tang Shan!

What are the differences between a horticultural company with open air cultivation and a horticultural company with protected cultivation regarding the use of fertilizer, energy, crop protection agents, waste management and water?

System approach
The system approach is useful to analyze situations and to find out what may happen to a system under change
• farming system – the whole company
• cropping system – greenhouse, rice land, fruit orchard
• crop system – Rose, Chinese cabbage
• plant system – one single plant
• cell system – plant biotechnology
 Each (sub) system has inputs and outputs
 If there is change in one sub-system there often is influence on the other (sub) system(s)

Question
What kind of systems do you have for your assignment 3 case situation? Explain.

Plant growth and development (1)
Question: What is important for plant growth and development?
Think of as many things as possible!

Plant growth and development (2)
Production factors
Photosynthesis=
6CO
2
+ 12H
2
O + light

C
6
H
12
O
6
+ 6O
2
+ H
2
O) carbon water sugar oxygen water dioxide
 Needed: CO2, water, light plus nutrients (N, Mg, P, K and others)
 The law of the minimum
 Environment should be favorable: Temperature, Light,
Relative Humidity (RH), (and carbon dioxide)

Plant growth and development (3)
Temperature
 Air temperature, soil/medium temperature, leaf/plant temperature can differ from each other
 Recommendations usually about air temperature

Average daily temperature influences the rate of plant development (e.g. flowering and dormancy)
 Temperature soil/media is important for germination or rooting of cuttings (should be more > 21 ºC)
 Optimum temperature= best for the plant development
(can vary during development!)
 Tolerable temperature= plant does not die, but grows slowly or low quality

Plant growth and development (4)
Temperature, continued
 Some plants need vernalization = effect by cool temperature (1-3 months) for e.g. flowering
 DIF= difference day and night temperature.
- High DIF gives more stem elongation.
- DIF may effect flower size and number
 Temp at last stage of culture few degrees lower than optimum to enhance colour & postharvest life
 After harvest: cool down to between 0 and 7 ºC to slow down deterioration (temp depends on crop!

Plant growth and development (5)
Light
 Gives the energy for photosynthesis
 Color, intensity (quantity) and day length
(photoperiod)
 Physiological responses, e.g. seed germination, flowering, senescence, tuber formation & dormancy
 Day length / Photoperiod: a short or long day length can influence reactions in certain plants, e.g. flowering.
 Maximize light: plant spacing, extra illumination, use a good greenhouse construction and maintenance
 Shading: too much light is unpleasant for plants (and humans), leads to e.g. yellow leaves

Plant growth and development (6)
Light
 New development: LED light
In future, perhaps:
- we do not need the sun anymore
we can cultivate more plants on a smaller area….

Plant growth and development (7)
Water
 The right amount should be given
 Quality is important
 Different ways of watering
Relative humidity (RH)
 High RH: less chance of plant getting too dry
 High RH: more chance for fungi and other diseases

Plant growth and development (8)
The growth (sigmoid) curve:
 exponential,
 linear,
 Declining
Question: Why do you think growth takes place like this?

Plant growth and development (9)
The sink source theory
 Sinks = parts that demand sugars – young and growing parts
 Sources= parts that deliver sugars: leaves, seeds, tubers etc.
Sinks compete with each other → removing apples, pruning tomato side branches, removing grape branches.
Explain!

• Pests and diseases:
 Affect quantity (yield): worldwide 30% of agricultural production is lost
 Affect quality (price)
 Are a big barrier for international trade
• Pesticides can harm:
 Food
 Health employees that use pesticides
 Environment

Question:
What kind (categories) of pests and diseases exist in horticulture?

Pests:
1. Insects
2. Spider mites
3. Nematodes
4. Rodents 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Diseases:
1.Fungi
Spores (water, wind)
2.Bacteria
Insects, water, soil
3.Viruses
Sucking insects, tools, hands
1.
3.
2.

Question: How can you control pests and diseases?

How to control pests:
• Biological (organic farming)
• Chemical with crop protection agents
• Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
= combination biological and chemical:
• cultural control (good environment) & breeding strong varieties
• scouting = visual inspection:
 physical control (mechanical or by hand)
 biological control
 Predators: eat pests
 Parasites: live on pests, e.g. put eggs inside larvae
 chemical control only when there’s no other solution, pesticides which do not harm biological control

Question: Why should a farmer use Integrated Pest
Management (IPM)?
How can the yellow and blue plates help?

Weeds also harm the production.
Questions:
- Why?
- How can you control weeds?

See you tomorrow for your presentation of assignment 2 and for excursion to Xiao Tang Shan
Excursion every one year 2009!
Assignment: see handout.