Horticulture is the specialized branch of agriculture focused on the intensive cultivation, management, and improvement of garden crops, including fruits, vegetables, ornamentals, and landscape plants. As a human activity, it integrates plant propagation, breeding, nutrition, protection, and postharvest handling to optimize yield, quality, and aesthetic or functional traits. Horticultural practice encompasses controlled-environment production (e.g., greenhouses), field systems, and urban or peri-urban landscapes, often involving high-value, labor- and knowledge-intensive cropping. It plays a key role in diversifying agroecosystems, supporting dietary quality, and providing plant material for ecological restoration, amenity planting, and research on plant physiology and genetics.
The DIVERSICROP COST Action is working to harness the potential of underutilized crops to promote sustainable food production. Europe's need for sustainable, nutritious food puts overlooked crops like rye and legumes, which ...
Agriculture
Nov 3, 2025
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Drones have become integrated into everyday life over the past decade—in sectors as diverse as entertainment, health care and construction. They have also begun to transform the way people grow food.
Biotechnology
Oct 29, 2025
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The Green Revolution of 1950–1970 helped agriculture flourish around the world. Advances in technology enabled farmers to scale up their production, improving the way they watered and fertilized their crops.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 14, 2025
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24
Which plant hormones are critical in responding to drought conditions? How do plant hormone responses adjust to environmental changes? An article published in the journal Trends in Plant Science redefines and classifies the ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 1, 2025
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Extreme weather events, from heavy rainfall to heat waves and droughts, are increasingly threatening crop yields globally, so new solutions are needed for agriculture.
Plants & Animals
Oct 1, 2025
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A new variety of broccoli called "NorthStar," a co-hybrid between parents developed at Cornell University and the global seed company Bejo Zaden, can withstand warmer, more unpredictable conditions such as the ones in the ...
Biotechnology
Sep 26, 2025
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66
If you've spent any time in the gardening corners of social media lately, you've likely come across a trend called "chaos gardening."
Ecology
Aug 19, 2025
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21
People often prioritize aesthetics when choosing plants for their gardens. They may pick flowers based on colors that create visually appealing combinations and varieties that have bigger and brighter displays or more fragrant ...
Ecology
Aug 19, 2025
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Fragrant garden staples like thyme, basil and lavender—part of the sprawling mint family—are hiding some super-sized secrets with big applications, according to Michigan State University researchers.
Plants & Animals
Aug 14, 2025
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30
Urban agriculture should be treated as a serious farming method to help meet the global ambitions of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, according to Flinders University researchers.
Ecology
Aug 6, 2025
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