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Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables
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Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Development and Morphogenesis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 August 2023) | Viewed by 6819

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Georgia Ntatsi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Vegetable Production, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
Interests: vegetable production; hydroponics; plant nutrition; plant physiology; abiotic stress; fruit quality; biofortification; biostimulants; nitrogen fixation; phytohormones; plant metabolism; organic production; vertical farming
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Leo Sabatino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Sciences (SAAF), University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 5, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: vegetable production; vegetable grafting; soilless cultivation; nutritional and nutraceutical vegetable fruit quality linked to cultivation conditions and practices; biofortification of leafy and fruiting vegetable crops, propagation of ornamental plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Savvas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Vegetable Production, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, Iera Odos 75, 11855 Athens, Greece
Interests: vegetable production; hydroponics; plant nutrition; greenhouse crops; greenhouse environment; irrigation water; legumes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture is facing the challenge of feeding an estimated global population of 9.7 billion people by 2050 without compromising its natural resource base. The rising population along with the diminishing land and water resources have put tremendous pressure on farmers worldwide to meet these increasing food demands. Vegetables play an extremely important role in nutrition and health since they exert protective roles against chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, hypertension, strokes, cancer, diabetes, and blood-related and neurological diseases. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) consultation on diet, nutrition, and prevention of chronic diseases, a minimum daily intake of 400–500 g per day of fruit and vegetable is recommended to prevent chronic, non-communicable diseases, and other micronutrient-related deficiencies.

An intensive agricultural production along with the climate change threat have increased the need for the transition toward more sustainable and resilient farming practices. In this regard, innovative crop management practices that increase crop production and quality through more efficient use of agricultural inputs while reducing nutrient losses, pesticide application, and greenhouse gas emissions are needed.

In this Special Issue entitled “Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables”, we invite researchers and experts to contribute original research, critical reviews, and opinions exploring innovative tools/strategies for improving nutrient use efficiency, technology development for water, fertilization and pest management, innovative greenhouse design and the design of other controlled environment systems, vertical farming, integrated and organic crop management, innovative substrates and soilless production systems (floating, NFT), novel biostimulants, plant-growth-promoting microorganisms and biofortificants, and high-throughput phenotyping approaches and breeding strategies aiming to increase resource use efficiency and abiotic stress tolerance. We also encourage contributions on agronomic practices and techniques such as soil tillage, fertilization, crop rotations, intercropping, irrigation, pruning, nursery management, grafting, and weed control that support sustainable crop production systems and intensification and improve long-term food security. The impact of these agronomic aspects on the quality of the products of vegetable crops will also be considered.

Dr. Georgia Ntatsi
Dr. Leo Sabatino
Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Savvas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • vertical farming
  • soilless culture
  • floating system
  • fertilization
  • substrates
  • aquaponics
  • nutrient use efficiency—NUE
  • pest management
  • precision farming
  • high throughput phenotyping
  • plant modeling sensors and robotics
  • legume-based cropping systems
  • biostimulants
  • plant-growth-promoting microorganisms
  • biofortification
  • soil tillage
  • organic farming
  • crop rotations
  • intercropping
  • conservation tillage
  • grafting
  • weed control

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1147 KiB  
Article
Hydroponic and Aquaponic Floating Raft Systems Elicit Differential Growth and Quality Responses to Consecutive Cuts of Basil Crop
by Giuseppe Carlo Modarelli, Lucia Vanacore, Youssef Rouphael, Antonio Luca Langellotti, Paolo Masi, Stefania De Pascale and Chiara Cirillo
Plants 2023, 12(6), 1355; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12061355 - 17 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2738
Abstract
Basil crops are appreciated for their distinct flavour and appeal to various cuisines globally. Basil production is mainly implemented in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems. Soil-less cultivation (e.g., hydroponic) is optimal for producing basil, while aquaponics is another technique suitable for leafy crops [...] Read more.
Basil crops are appreciated for their distinct flavour and appeal to various cuisines globally. Basil production is mainly implemented in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems. Soil-less cultivation (e.g., hydroponic) is optimal for producing basil, while aquaponics is another technique suitable for leafy crops such as basil. Shortening the production chain through efficient cultivation techniques reduces basil production’s carbon footprint. While the organoleptic quality of basil demonstrably benefits from successive cuts, no studies have compared the impact of this practice under hydroponic and aquaponic CEA conditions. Hence, the present study evaluated the eco-physiological, nutritional, and productive performance of Genovese basil cv. Sanremo grown in hydroponic and aquaponic systems (combined with tilapia) and harvested consecutively. The two systems showed similar eco-physiological behaviour and photosynthetic capacity, which were on average 2.99 µmol of CO2 m−2 s−1, equal numbers of leaves, and fresh yields of on average 41.69 and 38.38 g, respectively. Aquaponics yielded greater dry biomass (+58%) and dry matter content (+37%), while the nutrient profiles varied between the systems. The number of cuts did not influence yield; however, it improved dry matter partitioning and elicited a differential nutrient uptake. Our results bear practical and scientific relevance by providing useful eco-physiological and productive feedback on basil CEA cultivation. Aquaponics is a promising technique that reduces chemical fertiliser input and increases the overall sustainability of basil production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables)
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15 pages, 332 KiB  
Article
Cowpea Immature Pods and Grains Evaluation: An Opportunity for Different Food Sources
by Márcia Carvalho, Valdemar Carnide, Carla Sobreira, Isaura Castro, João Coutinho, Ana Barros and Eduardo Rosa
Plants 2022, 11(16), 2079; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11162079 - 9 Aug 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2176
Abstract
Currently, the sustainability of agro-food systems is one of the major challenges for agriculture and the introduction of new pulse-based products can be a good opportunity to face this challenge. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) is a nutritionally important crop and has [...] Read more.
Currently, the sustainability of agro-food systems is one of the major challenges for agriculture and the introduction of new pulse-based products can be a good opportunity to face this challenge. Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) is a nutritionally important crop and has the particularity that the aerial section of the plant is entirely edible. The current research determines the nutritional composition of the alternative cowpea food sources immature pods and grains comparatively to dry grains through the evaluation of protein, minerals and different polyphenolic contents, and antioxidant capacity. Ten cowpea genotypes were analyzed during two harvest seasons. Cowpea immature pods and grains revealed high levels of total protein and K, Ca, Zn and Fe contents. In general, most of the genotypes produced cowpea of high nutritional value, with a high variation observed between them. Our results showed the potential of the introduction of new cowpea new products in the market allowing a healthy and variable diet and at the same time a better use of the crop under the scenario of climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables)
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