Applied Artificial Intelligence in Digital Horticulture: Practices and Innovations

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 June 2025 | Viewed by 2131

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Modern Agricultural Engineering Key Laboratory at Universities of Education Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tarim University, Alaer 843300, China
Interests: sustainable agriculture; fruit quality; non-destructive detection; machine learning

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Guest Editor
College of Mechanical Electrification Engineering, Tarim University, Alaer 843300, China
Interests: intelligent agriculture; post-harvest; horticulture; nut

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Guest Editor
College of Mechanical Electrification Engineering, Tarim University, Alaer 843300, China
Interests: sustainable agriculture; post-harvest; fruit ripening; non-destructive detection

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Guest Editor
Department of Soil and Agri-Food Engineering, Universite Laval, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Interests: water erosion; sediment transport; hydrology; environmental modeling; numer-ical methods; water resources
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the development of modern agriculture, artificial intelligence has achieved initial results in the field of horticulture, and the progress of its research and application continues to promote the development of precision agriculture. The integrated application of artificial intelligence has involved many links such as monitoring, forecasting, decision-making and execution, forming an intelligent monitoring and management system. Although the application of artificial intelligence in digital gardening is promising, the challenges cannot be ignored.

This Special Issue titled "Applied Artificial Intelligence in Digital Horticulture: Practices and Innovations" focuses on exploring the application and innovation of artificial intelligence technology in the field of digital horticulture, aiming to promote the progress and sustainable development of agricultural science and technology. This Special Issue introduces the technological innovations of artificial intelligence in plant growth monitoring, automatic management, precision irrigation, non-destructive testing and evaluation of fruit and vegetable quality, intelligent perception control systems and cloud platform construction. The journal encourages original research across disciplines, with a particular emphasis on research methods that combine theory and practice. Scholars from all walks of life are welcome to contribute to promote the development of artificial intelligence in digital horticulture, in order to achieve an efficient and intelligent agricultural production system.

Dr. Yang Liu
Prof. Hong Zhang
Prof. Dr. Haipeng Lan
Dr. Silvio José Gumiere
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • artificial intelligence
  • digital gardening
  • automated management
  • non-destructive testing
  • intelligent perception

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2623 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Grape Agrivoltaic System: Climate Modulation and Vine Benefits in the Puglia Region, Southeastern Italy
by Andrea Magarelli, Andrea Mazzeo and Giuseppe Ferrara
Horticulturae 2025, 11(2), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11020160 - 3 Feb 2025
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Abstract
Climate change poses significant challenges to agriculture, a sector with a long-standing tradition in the Mediterranean basin. The region faces altered rainfall patterns, extreme temperatures, aridification, loss of biodiversity, and changes in crop yield and quality. These impacts, combined with intensive farming practices, [...] Read more.
Climate change poses significant challenges to agriculture, a sector with a long-standing tradition in the Mediterranean basin. The region faces altered rainfall patterns, extreme temperatures, aridification, loss of biodiversity, and changes in crop yield and quality. These impacts, combined with intensive farming practices, threaten long-term agricultural sustainability. This study investigates agrivoltaics (AVs), a dual-use technology that integrates solar energy production (photovoltaic panels) with agriculture, as a potential solution to enhance resilience and adaptation of crops. Research at an AV system in Puglia (Southeastern Italy), combined with grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.), assessed soil moisture, temperature, and microclimate conditions together with vine yield and fruitfulness. Results showed that shading from photovoltaic panels increased soil moisture and moderated soil temperature, thus benefiting crops. Vines beneath the panels yielded more grapes (+277%) than in the full sun, confirmed by even the better bud fruitfulness of the shaded canes. While panels had minimal impact on air temperature, they reduced wind speed and vapor pressure deficit, creating a better microenvironment for vines. Spectral analysis revealed an increase in UV and blue light under the panels, potentially affecting photosynthesis. The AV system also produced substantial electricity, more than 90% compared to a ground-mounted system, demonstrating its dual-use application. The higher land equivalent ratio (LER) achieved by the AV system (3.54) confirmed that such systems can be advantageous in areas with a Mediterranean climate, allowing crop and energy production on the same land. Full article
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21 pages, 45821 KiB  
Article
OMC-YOLO: A Lightweight Grading Detection Method for Oyster Mushrooms
by Lei Shi, Zhanchen Wei, Haohai You, Jiali Wang, Zhuo Bai, Helong Yu, Ruiqing Ji and Chunguang Bi
Horticulturae 2024, 10(7), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10070742 - 14 Jul 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1278
Abstract
In this paper, a lightweight model—OMC-YOLO, improved based on YOLOv8n—is proposed for the automated detection and grading of oyster mushrooms. Aiming at the problems of low efficiency, high costs, and the difficult quality assurance of manual operations in traditional oyster mushroom cultivation, OMC-YOLO [...] Read more.
In this paper, a lightweight model—OMC-YOLO, improved based on YOLOv8n—is proposed for the automated detection and grading of oyster mushrooms. Aiming at the problems of low efficiency, high costs, and the difficult quality assurance of manual operations in traditional oyster mushroom cultivation, OMC-YOLO was improved based on the YOLOv8n model. Specifically, the model introduces deeply separable convolution (DWConv) into the backbone network, integrates the large separated convolution kernel attention mechanism (LSKA) and Slim-Neck structure into the Neck part, and adopts the DIoU loss function for optimization. The experimental results show that on the oyster mushroom dataset, the OMC-YOLO model had a higher detection effect compared to mainstream target detection models such as Faster R-CNN, SSD, YOLOv3-tiny, YOLOv5n, YOLOv6, YOLOv7-tiny, YOLOv8n, YOLOv9-gelan, YOLOv10n, etc., and that the mAP50 value reached 94.95%, which is an improvement of 2.62%. The number of parameters and the computational amount were also reduced by 26%. The model provides technical support for the automatic detection of oyster mushroom grades, which helps in realizing quality control and reducing labor costs and has positive significance for the construction of smart agriculture. Full article
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