The Department of Horticulture was established in 1964 with the objective of strengthening education, research, and extension activities in horticultural crops. During the formative years of JNKVV, Madhya Pradesh Agricultural Research Institute (MPARI)  which functioned under the State Department of Agriculture, Government of Madhya Pradesh and managed various State Plan and Centrally Sponsored Schemes related to crop improvement, horticulture, agronomy and soil science. In January 1984, the department was bifurcated into two independent units  the Department of Fruit Science and the Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture  to facilitate focused research. Later, in 2004, these two units were merged once again to form the present Department of Horticulture.