Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai was established in the year 1981 and catering the needs of farmers of Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu for the past fifty years. Research work carried out during the last five decades has resulted in the development of seven varieties in horticultural crops, viz., Brinjal MDU1, Bhendi MDU1, Bitter gourd MDU1, Snake gourd MDU1, Cluster bean MDU1, Chrysanthemum MDU1 and Marigold MDU1. Recently released, Cluster Bean MDU 1 has got good market preference because of its heavy bearing nature and high yield. Madurai is one of the important horticultural belts of Tamil Nadu where the horticultural crops like, mango, banana, guava and aonla, bhendi, gourds, tomato, brinjal, onion, chillies, jasmine and tuberose are cultivated. Production and distribution of elite planting materials of the released varieties are carried out from this department. The field problems faced by the farmers are solved by providing technical advises. Similarly in flower crops, Madurai has emerged as the main market for Jasmine and has grown into the jasmine capital of India. Production of jasmine during off season is the major problem and research programme to address this issue has been initiated at this department. Currently, research has been focused to collect and evaluate the under exploited cucurbitaceous vegetable crops rich in nutritive value for commercial exploitation of these vegetable crops.
