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Applied Sciences
Special Issues
Sustainability and Digitalization of Organic Agriculture
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Sustainability and Digitalization of Organic Agriculture

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Agricultural Science and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 May 2023) | Viewed by 7745

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Vasile Stoleru

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Horticulture Sciences, Faculty of Horticulture, “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” Iasi University of Life Sciences, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Interests: organic food science; management of vegetable growing; plant nutrition; conventional production systems; horticulture biodiversity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Gianluca Caruso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: plant biology; horticulture; fruit science; fruit quality; plant physiology; hydroponics; antioxidants; postharvest physiology; vegetable production; horticulture research; postharvest biology; fruit crops production processing; postharvest handling; postharvest technology; pomology; horticulture engineering; nutrients; segars
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue regards the advanced digitalization technologies related to all aspects of organic agriculture which provide high levels of quality and safety to the system. Scientists are encouraged to publish their experimental and theoretical detailed results in the form of reviews, research papers, or communications, with no text length restrictions. Experimental details should be provided so that research can be reproduced within the frame of digitalization and new technologies assuring appropriate farming practices for system sustainability.

The following topics are of interest:

  • Ethical aspects of organic agriculture development;
  • Policies and laws relating to organic farming;
  • Changing consumption and patterns;
  • Plant electrophysiological potential for contributing to organic agriculture;
  • Digitalization contribution to irrigation, fertilization, and pest and disease control in organic agriculture;
  • Monitoring the pollutant effect in organic agriculture;
  • Enhancing agro-ecosystem health;
  • Health-related aspects of sustainability;
  • Digitalization in organic animal production;
  • Digitalization in organic food processing;
  • Food quality and safety in the processing chain in organic agriculture.

Prof. Dr. Vasile Stoleru
Prof. Dr. Gianluca Caruso
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. Applied Sciences 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 2400 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

  • digitalization
  • organic farming
  • high-tech agriculture
  • security and sustainability of agriculture

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2296 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Fruit Quality Criteria and Heavy Metal Contents of Strawberries Grown in Organic and Conventional Agriculture
by Sevinç Şener and Mehmet Hadi Cantemur
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(13), 7919; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13137919 - 06 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1241
Abstract
People often consume organic foods because they believe they are healthier and tastier foods. Agricultural products consumed by humans may contain harmful components such as chemical residues and heavy metals. The aim of this study is to compare the fruit quality parameters and [...] Read more.
People often consume organic foods because they believe they are healthier and tastier foods. Agricultural products consumed by humans may contain harmful components such as chemical residues and heavy metals. The aim of this study is to compare the fruit quality parameters and heavy metal contents of strawberries grown in organic and conventional agriculture. Fruit, soil and water samples were taken from 10 organic and 10 conventional strawberry farms in the Hüyük district, located in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey, in 2019–2020. The fruit quality parameters of the obtained fruit samples were examined and it was determined whether there were significant differences in fruit, soil and water contents in terms of Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd. According to the study findings, fruit quality parameters were found to be higher in organic strawberries. Additionally, it was determined that there was Zn and Cu accumulation in both organic and conventional strawberry fruits, but the heavy metal accumulation did not exceed the acceptable limit. According to these results, it can be said that the products grown in the region where organic strawberry cultivation is intense do not show pollution in terms of heavy metals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Digitalization of Organic Agriculture)
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13 pages, 1990 KiB  
Article
Compost Fertilization in Organic Agriculture—A Comparison of the Impact on Corn Plants Using Field Spectroscopy
by Martin Strenner, Lucie Chmelíková and Kurt-Jürgen Hülsbergen
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(6), 3676; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13063676 - 14 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1939
Abstract
To protect the environment and reduce the impact of fertilizing on climate change, a tailored fertilization according to the needs of the plants becomes more and more important. In organic farming, the main sources of nitrogen (N) are organic fertilizers, such as compost [...] Read more.
To protect the environment and reduce the impact of fertilizing on climate change, a tailored fertilization according to the needs of the plants becomes more and more important. In organic farming, the main sources of nitrogen (N) are organic fertilizers, such as compost and farmyard manure. In conventional agricultural systems, various plant sensors have already proven that they can guide efficient fertilization. Since these sensors can record the growth of the biomass growth, they can also be used in organic farming to detect the influence of various organic fertilizers on the growth of corn plants. In a field trial established in 2017, eight different organic fertilizers (biogas fermentation residue, matured farmyard manure, fresh and matured organic waste compost, fresh and matured green compost, and microbial carbonized compost) were used and applied in two different amounts (120 and 240 kg N ha−1) along with an unfertilized control variant. The fertilization was applied according to the current version of the German fertilizer ordinance. In 2021, sensor measurements of the corn plants were taken at six different stages of development (from BBCH 13 to BBCH 35) with a hand-held field spectrometer using the REIP vegetation index. The measurements showed that the unfertilized control variant could be reliably recorded. Furthermore, even at early growth stages the measurements showed the differences between different composts. The results presented in this study show that sensor measurements using vegetation indices reacted sensitively to organic fertilization and can be a tool for farmers to support their decision for an adequate fertilization strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Digitalization of Organic Agriculture)
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16 pages, 2451 KiB  
Article
Nutritional, Antioxidant, Sensory, Energetic, and Electrical Properties of Enriched Pasta
by Zuzana Hlaváčová, Vladimír Madola, Eva Ivanišová, Daniela Kunecová, Branislav Gálik, Peter Hlaváč, Monika Božiková and Vlasta Vozárová
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(24), 12672; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122412672 - 10 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1151
Abstract
The aim of the presented study was to determine the nutritional properties (dry matter, total protein, ash, and selected amino acid content), antioxidant properties (antioxidant activity; total polyphenol, flavonoid, and phenolic acid content; total carotenoid, chlorophyll, and anthocyanin), and sensory profile (general appearance, [...] Read more.
The aim of the presented study was to determine the nutritional properties (dry matter, total protein, ash, and selected amino acid content), antioxidant properties (antioxidant activity; total polyphenol, flavonoid, and phenolic acid content; total carotenoid, chlorophyll, and anthocyanin), and sensory profile (general appearance, flavor, taste, aftertaste, overall acceptability) of pasta enriched with powdered nettle leaves, elderberry fruit, and carrot in additions of 3%. A control variant without the addition of plant material was prepared for comparison of the results. Two of our samples of pasta (with nettle and carrot) had lower calorific values by approximately 17%. However, the energy value of the pasta was not significantly affected by added substances. Electrical properties (resistance, impedance) were also measured, and resistivity was calculated. We found that impedance and resistivity were influenced by added components in pasta. In the frequency range from 20 kHz to 100 kHz, we were able to use the measured dependencies of the mentioned electrical properties to identify the type of addition to the pasta. Correlations exist between the electrical properties and nutritional properties of enriched pasta samples, and could be used to indetify value-added pasta in processing chain digitalization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Digitalization of Organic Agriculture)
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14 pages, 1052 KiB  
Article
Potential of Continuous Electric Current on Biometrical, Physiological and Quality Characteristics of Organic Tomato
by Madalin-Vasile Gheorghitoaie, Ilie Bodale, Vladut Achitei, Gabriel-Ciprian Teliban, Alexandru Cojocaru, Gianluca Caruso, Gabriela Mihalache and Vasile Stoleru
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 4211; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12094211 - 21 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2091
Abstract
The tomato is one of the most important species in the food sector. For farmers, the increase in yield in greenhouse conditions by keeping a high quality of fruits represents a goal which is very difficult to achieve in these conditions. Therefore, the [...] Read more.
The tomato is one of the most important species in the food sector. For farmers, the increase in yield in greenhouse conditions by keeping a high quality of fruits represents a goal which is very difficult to achieve in these conditions. Therefore, the present study evaluates the influence that a continuous electric current might have on some biometrical, physiological and quality parameters of tomato fruits. The study was carried out in a greenhouse where tomato plants belonging to Qualitet F1 hybrid were treated with different continuous electric currents, under 5 DC sources, stabilized by the laboratory 0–30 V/0–5 A. During the research, the tomato plants were exposed to different electric current intensities or voltages on the plants or in the soil (T1-0.15 A; T2-0.30 A; T3-0.45 A; T4-1.5 V; T5-1.5 V-soil). The tomato plant samples were compared with an untreated control. In order to determine the influence of a continuous electric current, observations and determinations were made on tomato plants and fruits. The results highlighted significant differences between the treated and not treated plants, regarding the plant height, yield, firmness, acidity, total soluble solids, antioxidant activity, crude and dietary fibres, tannins, oxalates, saponins, α-amylase inhibitors, K, Mg, Fe and Zn content. Depending on the intensity of the electric current and the manner of application, the biometrical, physiological and quality parameters of tomato fruits were differently influenced. Both positive and negative influences were registered. More experiments are needed in order to establish a relation between the electric current intensity and the manner of application which can lead to better and higher tomato yields and quality in greenhouse conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Digitalization of Organic Agriculture)
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