The State of the Art of Orchard Management

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Fruit Production Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2025) | Viewed by 1006

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA Quilamapu, Av. Vicente Méndez 515, Chillán, Chile
Interests: applied environmental physiology of fruit trees; cropping efficiency and fruit quality; orchard planting systems; pruning; deficit irrigation; berry fruits; sustainable management of orchard systems; bioactive compounds in horticultural plants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit production has evolved in the last few years, with several studies demonstrating that variations in the agronomic management of fruit orchards disrupt the metabolic, morphological and physiological responses of plants, decreasing the pre- and postharvest quality and productivity of different fruit species.

This Special Issue aims to enhance the latest innovative and cutting-edge studies on the agronomic management of different fruit species exploring ways in which better fruit quality and productivity, along with food safety and the production of functional compounds for human health, can be achieved.

We welcome original research, reviews and short communications on the following topics:

  • Preharvest and postharvest technologies that enhance fruit quality in fruit species.
  • Unpublished agronomic management practices to enhance fruit quality and postharvest life.
  • Extreme environmental factors resulting from climate change and edaphic factors that influence fruit development and quality.
  • Alterations in the fruit crop environment and their impact on the water regime, incidence of pests and diseases and nutritional demand, among other factors.
  • Agronomic management and its effects on metabolic alterations involved in ripening and the production of bioactive compounds in fruit species.

Dr. Jorge Retamal-Salgado
Prof. Dr. Daniel Valero
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • phytotechnology
  • orchard management
  • fruit production
  • plant protection
  • postharvest technology
  • fruit growing
  • tree physiology
  • ground covers
  • cultural practices
  • high-density systems
  • fruit quality

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1866 KiB  
Article
Effects of Deficit Irrigation on Growth, Yield, and Quality of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Grown in Semi-Arid Conditions
by Islam F. Hassan, Rahaf Ajaj, Ahmed F. Abd El-Khalek, Shamel M. Alam-Eldein, Maybelle S. Gaballah, Habib ur Rehman Athar and Harlene M. Hatterman-Valenti
Horticulturae 2025, 11(1), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11010101 - 17 Jan 2025
Viewed by 498
Abstract
Water scarcity, especially in countries like Egypt, is one of the biggest challenges facing agricultural development. Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is drought-resistant but only if the irrigation can be optimized. This can be a crucial approach toward the country’s agricultural development. The [...] Read more.
Water scarcity, especially in countries like Egypt, is one of the biggest challenges facing agricultural development. Pomegranate (Punica granatum) is drought-resistant but only if the irrigation can be optimized. This can be a crucial approach toward the country’s agricultural development. The impact of deficit irrigation on pomegranate growth, yield, and overall fruit quality was observed during this study, which focused on two consecutive years from 2023 to 2024 at a private farm located in El Khatatba, Egypt. It was determined that deficit irrigation of pomegranate was able to achieve a high level of water productivity whilst also achieving a reasonable yield. Trees receiving moderate deficit irrigation had a yield decrease of 10% in comparison to full irrigation; however, this yield decrease did not have a huge overall impact because the level of water saved during the process made up for the reduced yield. Moreover, fruit soluble solids content (SSC) was high when trees received moderate deficit irrigation. Trees that were given severe deficit irrigation had the lowest fruit yields with less juice content, which limits targeted uses like the juice market. Still, these trees produced the highest SSC indicating that sugar becomes concentrated in the fruit when plants are water-stressed. In general, the most efficient treatment was moderate deficit irrigation as it balanced the yield and quality parameters with less water. The resulting data provide assurance that moderate deficit irrigation can be effectively and suitably implemented for pomegranate production in arid regions where water conservation and market quality standards must be satisfied in order to be economically viable. There is also a need to examine the longer-term effects of DI on economic sustainability, plant physiology, and soil biomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The State of the Art of Orchard Management)
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