i. Course Title: HT 201- VEGETABLE PRODUCTION
ii. Course aim:
Students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and skills on principles involved in production of tropical and temperate vegetables
iii. Course expected learning outcome(s)
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
• Name and describe various vegetable crops and their respective uses.
• Define and describe different principles and skills of vegetable garden establishment, management, harvesting and post-harvest management.
• Apply acquired principles and skills in vegetable garden establishment, management, harvesting and post-harvest management.
• Have hands on skills and techniques for establishment, management, harvesting and post-harvest handling of specific vegetables of economic importance.
• Apply the acquired knowledge and skills to establish and manage gardens of economically specific vegetable crops of economic importance.
iv. Course status: Core
v. Credit rating: 10 Credits
vi. Total hours spent: 100 hours
Lectures 36hrs
Tutorial 04hrs
Assignments 08hrs
Independent Study 04hrs
Practical 48hrs
Pre-requisite: HT 101 – Principles and Practices of Horticulture
vii. Course content
Classification and adaptability of local and exotic vegetables. Selection of suitable production sites. Vegetable propagation methods, vegetable nursery establishment and management. Basic field crop establishment and husbandry practices for vegetables. Crop rotation, production planning and cropping calendar. Highlights to mechanization in vegetable production. Post- harvest handling and marketing of fresh vegetables. Production and utilization of important indigenous and exotic vegetable crops to cover botany, economic importance, ecology, crop management and production practices, harvesting, seed production, post-harvest handling, marketing and development perspectives of major vegetable crop groups: fruit vegetables, leafy vegetables, cole, legumes, roots and tubers, bulbs and sweet corn.
Practical skills:
a. Identification of vegetable propagation materials (seeds and other propagules), practices of vegetable crop establishment (nursery operations), field operations, vegetable crop management, vegetable field evaluation at various stages for agronomic management, diseases, pests, deficiency and any physiological disorders, determining maturity and methods of harvesting.
b. In groups all students should establish crop production plots for major vegetable crops in order to learn the above crop management practices from seed buying to harvesting of a crop.
c. Data collection of selected horticultural characteristics important to grower, consumer and processor of vegetable crops.
viii. Teaching and learning activities
The course will be delivered through lectures, practical sessions, seminars/tutorials and independent study sessions.
ix. Assessment Methods
The course will be assessed by quizzes, assignments, seminar presentation reports, practical reports, practical tests, theory tests and end of semester University examination.
x. Reading list
J. M. Swaider and G. W. Ware (2002). Producing vegetable crops (5th Edition), Interstate Publishers Inc., Danville, USA.
H.D. Tindall (1983). Vegetables in the Tropics, Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Houndmills, Basingstoke and London.
V. E. Rubatzky and M. Yamaguchi (1999). World Vegetables: Principles, Production and Nutritive values (2nd Edition), Aspen Publishers Inc. Gaitherburg, Maryland.
P. M. Kusolwa (2013) Compendium of Production of Individual Vegetable Crops of Economic Importance for Tanzania.