Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay College of Horticulture and Forestry

Agriculture is mainstay of Bihar economy. Fortunately, the state of Bihar is endowed with very fertile plain land sub-tropical climate and worlds a vast potential for growing a large variety of horticultural crops. The present Status of Horticulture and Forestry Education in Bihar, the general universities do not have any agricultural faculty and thus is not offering any programme leading to B.Sc or M.Sc degrees in agriculture or horticulture.

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa and Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour offer degree programmes in agricultural sciences. Now, horticulture is taught as one of the subjects of agriculture at undergraduate level in four agricultural colleges of the state. There is only one Horticulture college at Noorsarai, Patna district. P.G. Programmes leading to M. Sc and Ph. D degree in Horticulture is running at BAU, Sabour only.

Over the years, horticulture has acquired a larger dimension that fully justifies its separation from agriculture and a more prominent independent status. It has become a very important sector of our society. In addition to its great economic importance (employment & export) it provides us with products that has high value for human health, nutrition and well-being (fruits, vegetables & medicinal plants) and for establishments of our living environment (flowers/ ornamental plants & woody ornamentals).

In view of the above facts, the new horticulture & forestry college has been established at Piprakothi & the College will operate at the land-grant pattern of research, teaching, and extension in Horticulture and Forestry. The College will offer a unique classroom experience combined with many hands-on activities at our teaching farms/ forests, plant nurseries, laboratories and greenhouses. The undergraduate program of the college would offer a diverse choice of specializations, ranging from horticultural crops/tree production to plant molecular and cellular biology of commercially important horticultural and forestry crop species of the region. All options are designed to give students a broad base of knowledge in horticulture / forest science and prepare them for a career in these fields.

The college of horticulture and forestry will be located at Piprakothi in Motihari district of the Bihar state which is situated about 110 km away from the University headquarters at Pusa. The Horticulture Farm, Piprakothi under DRPCAU, Pusa possesses nearly 50 acres of land, of which 20 Acres will be utilized for the college. Academic activities of the college  shall start from the session 2018-19 from Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi and after construction of College building at Piprakothi, Motihari district, it will be shifted there.

Course Curriculum

Initially a group of 30 students will be admitted every year to B.Sc. (Hons.) in Horticulture and 25 to B.Sc., (Hons.) in Forestry course. The strength will be increased in future. Minimum 95 instructional days with additional 15 days will be involved for examination. Thus, a semester will consist of 110 working days.

One credit will be started as one-hour lecture or minimum of two hours lab/ field work per week. Thus, in a semester, 16 contact hours for theory and 32 contact hours for practical/ tutorial work per credit is required. However, for many courses one credit requires 3 hours of practical work. The college also serves all-round development of the students through classroom teaching, field trainings, practical demonstration, educational tours and interaction with farming community. Besides, the students are exposed to the concept of social work through mass contact and National Social Service (NSS) programs.

The course curriculum to be offered for graduate and post-graduate courses in the college has been developed as per the ICAR guidelines and recommendations. The course contents have been formulated with slight modifications in the V^th Deans Committee recommendations of ICAR within the permissible limits to suit the specific needs of Horticultural industry of the state of Bihar. Hands on training in commercially viable technologies in Horticulture have been designed for two batches 14 weeks each, in the VII and VIII semesters of the B.Sc. programme in Horticulture. However, physical education /NSS/NCC should be a credit course. The minimum credit requirement for an undergraduate degree must be 161 including physical education/ NSS /NCC and horticultural work experience.

There shall be one full semester earmarked for horticultural work experience programme in the fourth year of the degree with a total of 20 credits. The examination system will be a combination of 50% internal and 50% external components.

 University would adopt 10 points with a minimum Average Grade Point (AGP) of 5.00 for passing a subject and an Overall Grade Point Average (OGPA) of 5.50 for completing the degree programme. All other academic regulations will be same as for BSc (Ag) course, prevalent in Dr.RPCAU, Pusa.

The college will start initially with B.Sc (Honours) programmes separately in Horticulture and Forestry. Later on with the development of infrastructure, Post-Graduate Programmes on different Horticulture and Forestry subjects will be taken up.

Horticulture
B.Sc (Honours) Horticulture
M.Sc (Horticulture) Pomology
M.Sc (Horticulture) Olericulture
M.Sc. (Horticulture) Floriculture and Landscaping

Forestry (Specialization field)
B.Sc (Honours) Forestry
M. Sc (Forestry) Forest Genetic Resources
M. Sc (Forestry) Plantation Technology
M. Sc (Forestry) Silviculture
M. Sc (Forestry) Wood Science & Technology
M. Sc (Forestry) Watershed Management
M.Sc (Forestry) Agro-forestry

Eligibility
Eligibility criteria for the admission, a candidate must have passed 10+2 Science examination with PCB or PCM or PCBM or 10+2 Agriculture. Students may be required to take remedial courses as prescribed by the university. The admission will be made through ICAR-AIJEEA.

Semester wise course programme – Click here to download