Impact of Climate Change on

Floriculture and Landscape Gardening

L.C. De
FHSI, FCHAI, FISOH, FIASR-Hort. (USA),
FIASR-Flori, (USA), FIASR-Botany (USA),
FIASR-Biodiversity (USA)
Principal Scientist (Hort.)
ICAR-NRC for Orchids
Pakyong, Sikkim
Map of Agro-climatic Zones of NEH Region
Per Cent Area under Horticulture Production
(Source: NHB)
State/ UT’s % area under Horticulture
Arunachal Pradesh 36.2
Assam 15.49
Manipur 37.05
Meghalaya 30.44
Mizoram 16.99
Nagaland 4.66
Sikkim 50.92
Tripura 27.52
 Floriculture scenario
• Major markets: USA, Japan, Germany, UK, Canada
• Major Exporters: Netherlands, Columbia, Germany, Eucador, Italy, Kenya
• Major Importers: Germany, USA, The Netherlands, UK, France, Russian Federation, Japan
• Major cut flowers in world trade- rose, chrysanthemum, carnation, gerbera and lily
• Commodities for export: cut flowers, cut greens, dry flowers, essential oils, pot plants,
annuals, rooted cuttings
• Indian Share in global market)- 0.6%
• Export of floral products: Rs. 507.31 crores during 2017-18
• Area under flower cultivation in India: 2,49, 000 ha
• Leading cut flower producing states: WB (33%) , Jharkhand (12%), H.P. (10 %), AP (9%),
Orissa (8%), Assam (5%)
• Leading loose flower producing states: T.N. (18%), A.P. (13%), Maharashtra
(13%),Karnataka (12%), Chattishgarh (11%)
• No of countries involved in flower cultivation: 171
• Indian rank in export of floriculture products: 14th
• Total production of Loose flowers: 1659 thousand tonnes in 2015-16
• Total production of cut flowers: 484 thousand tonnes in 2015-16
• Export markets from India: USA, UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, UAE
 Floriculture as Business
• Protected cultivation of cut flowers
• Nursery development for pot plant production and rental services
• Plug plant production of bedding and annual flowers in a large scale
• Corporate Landscaping for beautification
• Plant Tissue cultures for mass production of ornamentals and flowering plants
• Essential oil extraction from aromatic plants
• Production of dry flowers from wild plants and seasonal annuals and biennials
• Making of pot pourii from flowers, herbs and spices
• Production of dyes, phytochemicals and herbal medicines from native flowers
• Open pollinated/F1 Hybrid Seed production of Flowering Annuals
• Job opportunities: Production Executive, Greenhouse Manager, Plant
Protection Specialist, Postharvest Manager, Nursery Manager, Production
Manager, Sales Manager, Liaison Officers, Landscape Designers, Landscape
Consultant, Media Specialist, Culture Specialist, Processing Manager,
Breeders
 Potential flower crops for Hill Regions
Assam: Orchids, anthurium, gerbera, rose, lily, chrysanthemum, tuberose,
marigold
Arunanchal Pradesh: orchids, carnation, gladiolus, rose, lilium, anthurium,
foliage, succulent plants, begonia
Manipur: Orchids, anthurium, roses, lilium, gladiolus
Nagaland: Orchids, anthurium, begonia, lilium, gerbera
chrysanthemum, rose, foliage plants
Tripura: Orchids, anthurium,foliage plants, gladiolus, tuberose,
marigold, chrysanthemum, gerbera
Mizoram: Anthurium, rose, orchid, gladiolus, BOP
Meghalaya: Rose, carnation, asiatic and oriental lilies, Calla lilies,
orchid, anthurium, gerbera, BOP
Sikkim: Orchids, cymbidium orchids, anthurium, Oriental lilies,
Carnation
Himachal Pradesh: Marigold, Carnation, Tulip, Lilium, Gladiolus,
Chrysanthemum and Rose.
Jammu & Kashmir: Tulip, Gladiolus, Lily
Uttarakhand: Carnation, lily, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, gerbera and Indian
red roses
Status of floriculture in Hill States
(2014-15)
• Total area: 7760 ha (3.12% of total area
under Floriculture)
• Production of loose flowers: 250.79 MT
• Production of cut flowers: 67.50 thousand
MT
• Maximum area: Assam (3530ha) followed
by Uttarakhand (1630ha), Manipur(810 ha)
and HP (800ha)
 Range of protected cultivation
Green House
Green houses are climate controlled. Green Houses have a variety of
applications, the majority being, off-season growing of vegetables,
floriculture, planting material acclimatization, fruit crop growing for export
market and plant breeding and varietals improvement.
Poly House
Poly houses are basically naturally ventilated climate controlled. Poly houses
have a variety of applications, the majority being, growing of vegetables,
floriculture, planting material acclimatization, fruit crop growing for export
market.
Poly Tunnels
Poly Tunnels are basically naturally ventilated climate controlled. Poly
Tunnels have a variety of applications, the majority being, growing of
vegetables, floriculture, planting material acclimatization, fruit crop growing
for export market.
Net House
Net houses are basically naturally ventilated climate controlled. Net houses
have a variety of applications, the majority being, growing of vegetables,
floriculture, fruit crop growing for export market.
Advantages of greenhouse cultivation
• Year round production of flowers and vegetables.
• Adverse climate for production of flowers and vegetables can be overcome
by different systems of protected production.
• Multiple cropping on the same piece of land is possible.
• Off season production of flowers and vegetables to get better return to
growers.
• Production of high quality and healthy seedlings of ornamentals and
vegetables for transplanting in open field supporting early crop, strong and
resistant crop stands.
• It makes vertical farming of flowers and vegetables possible using
technologies like hydroponics, aeroponics etc and use of vertical beds for
production.
• Production of disease free seed and planting materials of costly flowers and
vegetables becomes easy under protected structures.
 Types of greenhouses
Greenhouses are classified into two broad groups
depending upon the cost of installation namely,
•Low cost greenhouse
•Medium to high cost greenhouse
Costs
1. Less expensive greenhouse without fan and pad          Rs.300 to 500/m2
2.     Medium cost greenhouse with pad and fan system       Rs.800 to Rs.1100/m2
        without automation                                                       
3.     Expensive greenhouses with fully automatic                Rs.2000 to Rs.3500/m2
        control system                
 Classification of green houses
Classification as per type of structure
a. Quonset type
b. Curved roof type
c. Gable roof type
Classification as per glazing
a. Glass glazing
b. Fiberglass reinforced plastic glazing
i. Plain sheet
ii. Corrugated sheet
c. Plastic film
i. Ultra violet stabilized low density poly ethylene
ii. Silpaulin
Classification based on number of spans
a. Free standing or single span
b. Multispan or ridge and furrow or gutter connected
Low Cost greenhouse
High cost green house
Climate control in greenhouse
• ventilation,
• cooling,
• humidity,
• heating,
• watering, l
• lighting
• shading
 Different types of covering materials
Type Durability Light transmission Heat
transmission
Poly ethylene One year 90% 70%
Poly ethylene UV Two years 90% 70%
resistant
Fibre Glass Seven years 90% 5%
Tedlar coated Fiber Glass Fifteen years 90% 5%
Double strength Glass Fifty years 90% 5%
Poly carbonate Fifty years 90% 5%
 Nursery beds Shade house

Polytunnels
Multi-span green house
 Climate change
• Climate change is the increase in the
atmospheric temperature due to
enhanced levels of greenhouse gases
(GHGs) i.e. CO2, Methane (CH4) and
nitrous oxide (N2O) in the atmosphere.
• It is manifested in terms of occurrence
and repetition of events like droughts,
melting of glaciers and rising sea levels.
 Effects of climate change
• Climate change affects directly or indirectly the
agricultural activity including crops, soils, livestock and
pests.
• Directly, increase in temperature reduces crop duration,
increase crop respiration rate, alteration in
photosynthesis process, survival and distribution of pest
population, hasten nutrient mineralization in soils,
decrease fertilizer use efficiency and increase evapo-
transpiration.
• Indirectly, it influences agricultural land use pattern,
intensity of droughts and floods, soil organic matter
transformation, soil erosion, changes in pest complex
and decline in arable areas
 Climate change and Hill horticulture
• Trend analysis of last decades have already indicated that
in mid hills farmers have shifted from apple to vegetables
like cole crops and other fruits like pomegranate, kiwi etc.
While at higher altitudes, farmers are being benefitted due
to increased temperature and longer growing period with
cultivation of apple, potato, pea, cole crops, beans,
capsicum and medicinal plants.
• Diversity of some alpine species such as Hippophae spp,
Betula utilis, Cotoneaster spp., Nordostychus grandiflora
become vulnerable and their distribution is gradually
narrowed. The rhododendrons and other woody
ornamentals of lower hills have begun to invade the alpine
areas thus changing the composition of plants.
Climate change and orchid diversity
• Increasing temperature may result in vegetational zones
gradually moving vertically up mountain sides, both
permitting tropical species to subtropical areas,
subtropical species to temperate areas and eliminating
the species in the highest zones (Liu et al, 2010).
• Epiphytic orchids may be affected in various ways by
changes in the availability of light, nutrients and
moisture. Climate change is major threat to pollination
services and there is a need to conserve plant
communities in which orchids live. The combination of
higher temperatures and lower rainfall may make forests
more susceptible to fire and it may lead to extinction of
local species.
 Physiology of CO2 enrichment
• Under protected cultivation, by increasing the CO2 level to
900 ppm , O2 inhibition of photosynthesis is eliminated
due to the increased CO2/O2 ratio. Rising the CO2
concentration reduces the transpiration of plants by 20-
40%.
• In general, polyamines/ethylene ratio is high in young
stage while changes of low in old ones and stress
condition like salinity may cause a faster shift of the
balance from its juvenility causing to its senescence
causing ratio. The CO2 elevation may cause the reverse
shift by enhancing polyamine synthesis.
• The CO2 enrichment increases stomatal resistance in C4
plants than in C3 plants.
 Advantages of CO2 enrichment
• Increases in photosynthesis and brings a dramatic increase in nitrogen
fixing ability in legumes.
• Increases rate of photosynthesis in most of the plant species by
producing more sugars per unit of light absorbed.
• Increases in vegetative growth (shoot, leaves, stem, roots) on an
average 13% and their reproductive output (flower and seeds) by an
average of 31% and grain yield by 34%.
• Short-term growth enhancement is called CO2 fertilization effect.
• Plants associated with root symbionts have more sugars to feed them
and in exchange should receive additional nutrients thereby improving
growth.
• Reduces water consumption/unit area of leaf
• CO2 rich conditions also protects from SO2 damages
• CO2 atmosphere enables some plants to overcome salinity stress.
• It suppresses weed growth.
Effect of CO2 enrichment in greenhouse ornamentals
Crop CO2 concentration Effects
Begonia 700-900 ppm Enhanced growth rate, shorter culture time, larger
flowers and abundant flowers
Hibiscus 1000-1500 ppm Earlier and more number of flowers
Chrysanthemum 700-900 ppm Higher relative growth rate, shorter culture time,
better flower quality
Rose 1000-1500ppm Reduced number of blind shoots, higher yield,
longer and stronger glower stems
Tulip 1000-1500ppm No beneficial effect
Carnation 1000-1500ppm Better lateral branching, higher growth rate of young
plants, higher yield and better stem quality
Petunia 1000-1500ppm Earlier flowering
Dieffenbachia 700-900 ppm Faster growth
Ficus elastica 1000-1500ppm Larger leaves
Chrysanthemum 1500-3000 ppm Excessive starch causes deformation of chloroplast
with compression of grana
Gerbera 1600-2200 ppm Excessive starch formation causes chlorophyll
breakdown
Climate change and landscape gardening
• Interior landscape plants such as Hedera helix,
Chlorophytum comosum, Epipremnum aureum,
Spathiphyllum “Mauna Loa’, Aglaonema modestum,
Chamaedorea spp., Sansevieria trifasciata, Philodendron
domesticum, Dracena mariginata, Dracena fragrans are
useful to enhance indoor environmental quality, to improve
workplace efficiency, to improve visitor’s perceptions, to
reduce dust levels, to reduce noise, to filter the air in indoor
environment and to increase humidity in the work place.
• Practice of roof gardening can clean water runoff of
pollutants, filter the air that circulates near the roof and cool
the air.
• Vertical gardening improves air quality and reduce surface
temperature in the built environment. Lawn development
improves air quality by filtering air pollutants.
 Continued
• Landscaping reduces air and water pollution, mitigate
health risk for wild life and people, maintain species
diversity, reduce costs for heating and cooling of building
and reduces noise pollution.
• Informal gardening imitates the nature and strives to
produce a natural effect in a closed area.
• Wild gardening style can create a pleasing blend of beauty
and utility with ecological and environmental needs.
• Public park creates an environment of growing things,
rest, relaxation and breathing space for people of the area
of location.
• Development of an industrial garden checks the pollution,
beautify the area, arrests the drifting dusts and cut down
the noises.
 Challenges
• Biodiversity and Conservation
• Genetic Improvement
• Frontier Science Technologies
• Management of Natural Resources
• Post harvest and Value Addition
• Bio-risk Management
• Policies
• Transfer of Technology
 Biodiversity & Conservation
• Implementation of community-based  projects  on  biodiversity
conservation  provides opportunities to actively engage and involve local
and indigenous people.
• More biosphere reserves, sanctuaries and germplasm banks need to be
established.
• Promoting education and awareness about plant diversity conservation
and sustainable utilization and biodiversity conservation at the local
level to be encouraged.
• An integrated orchid conservation approach including conservation
genetics, mycorrhizal associations, pollinators interactions, in- situ
conservations (Biosphere Reserves, National Parks, Sacred Grooves,
Gene Sanctuary and Individual Trees) and ex situ conservations (Field
Gene Banks, Botanical Garden, Herbal Garden, In- vitro-conservation,
Cryo-preservation and DNA Bank) will be taken up.
 Genetic improvement
• Genera and species wise cataloguing of all germplasm
collection using IPGRI descriptors.
• In view of the IPR regulations, it is the paramount
importance to protect our germplasm using modern tools of
bar coding
• Building up a strong crop improvement programme based
on sound breeding methodologies that will yield into
development of hybrids/varieties of internationally
acceptable quality traits
• Evaluation of newly evolved genotypes to suit specific
agro-ecological conditions
• Locating sources of resistance for biotic an abiotic stresses
using conventional and biotechnological tools and
developing varieties with high yield, quality and specific
traits.
 Frontier Science Technologies
• It is essential to use the available hybrids and segregating
populations to develop Association mapping. Hence the
facilities available at IIHR, DFR and NRCO may be used
to develop genome assistant or marker assistant
selections.
• The lead obtained in GIS with the help of facilities of ISSR
to cover various ornamental species which aid in location
specific as well as species specific survey effective.
• Characterization of rhizosphere microbial community
structure and effect of engineered nanoparticles on
microorganisms in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere.
• Commercialization of flowers through bioreactors covering
micropropagation technology to industry in network mode.
 Management of Natural Resources
• Cost effective agro-climatic management through
optimization of a number of factors like light, temperature,
humidity, water, air, growing media and nutrition for quality
flower production. The standardization of growing media
using cheap and indigenous materials such as leaf ferns,
leaf moulds, green moss etc. may be explored.
• Development and popularization of cost effective
agricultural practices (INM/IPM) for increasing productivity.
• Quantification of water use efficiency and water
requirements in various commercial flowers based on
growth habit.
• Carbon sequestration potential in orchid based cropping
systems.
 Post harvest and Value Addition
• Development of pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest
technologies of major commercially grown flowers for
specific target groups like domestic and export market
and hybrid/variety specific technologies.
• Development of packaging for marketing of
commercially important fresh and dried produce using
locally available materials.
• Development of ornamental based technologies for
dry flowers and floral arrangement.
• Use of ornamental plants waste for production of
phytochemicals including pigments, food, feed, herbal
medicines and essential oils.
 Bio-risk Management
• Surveillance, identification and
characterization of new invasive insects
pests and pathogens
• Pest-risk analysis
• Development of rapid and reliable
diagnostics kits against pests and
pathogens including invasive species
• Management alert and control of new
invasive insect pests and pathogens
 Policies
• Commercialization of the new upgraded
technologies
• Genetic finger printing of rare, endangered
and threatened species and their
registration
• Finger printing and registration of newly
released varieties or hybrids
• Patenting technologies related to
ornamentals
• Confirmation and Documentation of ITK’s
 Transfer of Technology
• Identification of various clusters of production, selection of
beneficiaries and impart training and technical inputs in order to
produce international standards
• Large scale demonstration of proven technologies through FLD’s
and technology dissemination using advanced tools
• Upgradation of Knowledge, Know How techniques, Managerial Skills
and Self employment among extension functionaries, farmers,
school drop outs, young man and women generations by organizing
Kisan Mela, exhibition, Brainstorming session, need based and
focused Training Programme, Demonstration, Model training
Courses etc.
• Inter –institutional collaboration to facilitate popularization of effective
technologies
• Establishing agro-technology information centre like ITMU, AKMU
• Participatory planting material production of commercial flowers and
other valuable ornamental species