Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) for High Quality Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinals, Herbs, and Specialty Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2024) | Viewed by 4446

Special Issue Editors

Department of Agricultural, Forest, and Food Sciences (DISAFA), Vegetable Crops and Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (VEGMAP), University of Turin, Grugliasco, Italy
Interests: horticultural sciences; advanced production systems; postharvest of fresh produce; urban horticulture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Agronomy and medicinal plants, Faculty of Agriculture, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz 53714-161, Iran
Interests: production of medicinal and aromatic plants; strategies to increase the plant secondary metabolites; environmental stresses; ecophysiology of medicinal and aromatic plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants of several species can be considered factories of bioactive substances, which can be of interest for application in nutritional supplements, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, in addition to their economic relevance. The compounds are produced through the secondary metabolism of plants, and growth conditions can trigger their production, reflecting the ability with which plants can face the constant change of the environment around them. However, the type and concentration of the bioactive compounds produced by a plant are influenced by a multitude of factors during growth. The most relevant are light irradiation, temperature, water, CO2 and nutrient availability and soil characteristics. All these aspects variably affect the quality and quantity of the secondary metabolites, limiting the extensive exploitation until a high level of process standardization is achieved. Improving the productivity of medicinal and aromatic plants requires innovative solutions that increase yields and quality from greenhouse to indoor farming. Implementing cultivation in controlled conditions is a potential solution for ensuring the best growing conditions, where not only all the variables can be held for the optimal growing conditions, but also the plant metabolism can be forced and stressed to stimulate the biosynthesis of valuable compounds.

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) is a technology-based approach to farming that protects crops from external conditions and maintains an optimal growth environment. CEA can enhance process standardization and then product quality, satisfying the industry demand for the processing, extraction, and exploitation of byproducts and end-products.

This Special Issue aims to publish articles improving our knowledge of how to enhance the content in bioactive substances through plant cultivation systems with CEA, from greenhouses to indoor farms. Investigations or reviews on soilless culture systems, bioreactors, hydroponics, aeroponics, fogponics and any other advanced and controlled system are welcome, unravelling the influences of light, nutrients, water, relative humidity, air or root temperature, CO2, eustress, and elicitors on the bioactive compounds. Life cycle assessment (LCA), facility planning, and system efficiency evaluations will also be accepted.

Prof. Dr. Silvana Nicola
Dr. Saeid Hazrati
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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

  • controlled environment agriculture
  • advanced culture systems
  • hydroponics
  • fogponics
  • aeroponics
  • bioreactors
  • bioactive compounds
  • MAPs
  • environmental factors
  • herb production
  • system efficiency
  • LCA

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2891 KiB  
Article
Improving Production Yield and Nutritional Quality of Coastal Glehnia Using Developed Hydroponic Nutrient Solution in Controlled Environment Agriculture
by Moon-Sun Yeom and Myung-Min Oh
Horticulturae 2023, 9(7), 776; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9070776 - 07 Jul 2023
Viewed by 780
Abstract
This study was conducted to develop a nutrient solution for coastal glehnia, evaluate the performance of the newly developed nutrient solution, and determine an adequate electrical conductivity (EC) level for growth and bioactive compounds production in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Coastal glehnia plants [...] Read more.
This study was conducted to develop a nutrient solution for coastal glehnia, evaluate the performance of the newly developed nutrient solution, and determine an adequate electrical conductivity (EC) level for growth and bioactive compounds production in controlled environment agriculture (CEA). Coastal glehnia plants cultivated in Hoagland nutrient solution with EC 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 dS·m−1 for 20 weeks had the same ratio of cations and anions in terms of macro essential elements. Based on the ratio, a new nutrient solution for coastal glehnia was developed. Subsequently, seedlings with two main leaves were grown in Hoagland nutrient solution (H1 and H2; EC 1 and 2 dS·m−1) or a newly developed nutrient solution (N1–5; EC 1–5 dS·m−1) for 23 weeks (about 6 months), and the leaves were harvested every 5 weeks. The N1 treatment resulted in significantly higher accumulated and average shoot fresh and dry weights than in the H1 and H2 treatments. In addition, the total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity per shoot were the highest under the N1 treatment. Individual bioactive compounds, such as xanthotoxin, bergapten, and imperatorin, levels per shoot with the N1 treatment were significantly higher than those with the H1 and H2 treatments. These results demonstrate that the newly developed nutrient solution of EC 1 dS·m−1 increases the biomass and bioactive compound levels of coastal glehnia and is suitable for cultivating coastal glehnia in CEA, such as vertical farms and greenhouses. Full article
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14 pages, 3627 KiB  
Article
Alteration of Flower Yield and Phytochemical Compounds of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) by Application of Different Light Qualities and Growth Regulators
by Mostafa Eftekhari, Majid Ghorbani Javid, Sasan Aliniaeifard and Silvana Nicola
Horticulturae 2023, 9(2), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9020169 - 28 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2650
Abstract
Saffron is the world’s most coveted spicy plant that has medicinal value. Currently, due to diverse types of difficulties in growing this plant outdoor, the tendency to produce it indoor has been increased. Optimized indoor conditions for growing saffron plants is not fully [...] Read more.
Saffron is the world’s most coveted spicy plant that has medicinal value. Currently, due to diverse types of difficulties in growing this plant outdoor, the tendency to produce it indoor has been increased. Optimized indoor conditions for growing saffron plants is not fully determined so far. This study was conducted to investigate the interactive effects of two plant growth regulators (PGRs), including gibberellic acid (GA3) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and four light recipes, including white, monochromatic blue, monochromatic red, and a combination of 50% red and 50% blue on the flower yield and phytochemical components (such as crocin, picrocrocin and safranal) in stigmas of indoor-grown saffron. The results showed that exogenous GABA application and combined red and blue LED lights enhanced the performance of saffron flowers in terms of the number of flowers (up to 1.97 per corm) as well as the fresh and dry weight of flowers and stigmas. In saffron, the concentration of three major secondary metabolites is of great importance since it determines its commercial, pharmaceutical quality. GABA induced saffron’s chemical ingredients toward the phytochemicals safranal (up to 5.03%) and picrocrocin (up to 15.8%), while GA3 induced them toward the carotenoid pigment crocin (up to 25.1%). In conclusion, the application of GABA with a combination of red and blue lights enhanced the production of high-quality stigmas and positively affected the yield of flowers in saffron plants. Full article
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