The Horticulture Department began its academic activities in 1987. The mission of our department is to provide innovative teaching and research in Horticultural Science, to transfer new knowledge for the purpose of educating students, improving the productivity, value, and use of horticultural crops including fruits, vegetables and flowers. The Horticultural Science Department offers a four year degree program to educate and to train undergraduate students in Horticulture with emphasizing on the Production technology of Horticultural crops. Our Department also offers a M.Sc. Program that provides an advanced degree in Horticulture that focuses on the physiology, Ecology and Biotechnology of Horticultural crops to enable our postgraduate students to be competitive in the labor market and to conduct dynamic research in the various areas of Horticulture industry. Some on going research projects in the department includes: The Molecular Mechanism of Drought stress Tolerance in grapevines (Vitis vinifera); Micropropagation of Strawberries (Fragaria ananassa); Investigation of optimum conditions to maintain quality of olive fruit after harvest; Air pollution injury of ornamental plants. The Department encompasses four research & education laboratories including Micropropagation, Physiology of Horticultural Crops, Seed Analysis, and General Horticulture. There are also a set of Greenhouses (1000 m2), Plastic tunnels, Hot beds , Cold Frames and sash houses and Temperate tree fruit and olive orchards (4 hectares) in the Department for research and education.
