New Insight for Vegetable Growing in Protected Structure

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 January 2023) | Viewed by 4579

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, 3# Taicheng Road, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China
Interests: vegetable cultivation; physiology and ecology; cropping system; cucumber; tomato; garlic

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Growing vegetables in protected structures is very different from growing them in the open field. To improve vegetable production in protected structures, it is necessary to manage not only environment factors but also crop growth, development, yield, and quality. Among the environment factors involved, light is the leading factor that affects both other environment factors, such as temperature and huimidity, and plant growth through light intensity, quality, and duration. The temperature in protected structures changes sharply and crops often face both low and high levels of temperature stress. Similar to temperature, the relative humidity in protected structures is often high, which may induce infectious diseases and cause stress to some vegetable crops. Atmospheric gases, especially carbon dioxde, affect plant growth, resperation, photosynthesis, and so on. Atmosphere and soil biology, both benefical and harmful, effect the same eco-system as vegetable crops. The management of water and nutrients in soil and vegetable plants in protected structures must be constantly improved along with the development of the vegetable industry. The investigation of the effects of these biological factors on vegetable crops and of breeding and cultivar selection for vegetable production in protected structures will provide new insights into growing vegetables in protected structures.

Prof. Dr. Zhihui Cheng
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • vegetables in protected structures
  • growing model
  • plant management
  • environment management
  • soil management
  • biology management
  • breeding and cultivar selection

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3273 KiB  
Article
Effects of Shade Nets on Microclimatic Conditions, Growth, Fruit Yield, and Quality of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.): A Case Study in Carnarvon, Western Australia
by Giao N. Nguyen, Neil Lantzke and Andrew van Burgel
Horticulturae 2022, 8(8), 696; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8080696 - 01 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3878
Abstract
Carnarvon has a hot, semi-arid climate with high temperatures and solar radiation during spring–summer, which damages crops and limits the production season for the local vegetable industry. Protective cultivation is one of the promising approaches to mitigate these adverse weather conditions and avoid [...] Read more.
Carnarvon has a hot, semi-arid climate with high temperatures and solar radiation during spring–summer, which damages crops and limits the production season for the local vegetable industry. Protective cultivation is one of the promising approaches to mitigate these adverse weather conditions and avoid the resulting damage to vegetable crops. This study, which is part of the protected cropping research program for vegetable crops in Western Australia, was conducted to understand how the shade nets of a protective net house modify the microenvironment affecting the growth, physiology, and fruit yield of eggplants, a model vegetable crop. The eggplant crop was grown under four light regimes, i.e., three shade factors (11%, 21%, 30%) and the open field. There were three replicated blocks under each light regime and four eggplant varieties that were randomized within the replicated blocks. Other experimental conditions, e.g., fertilising, irrigation, pest, and disease management and other cultural practices were identical across light regimes. The results showed that shade nets created different microenvironments inside the net house, with a large variation in the light intensity, affecting photosynthetic-related traits. Eggplants grew taller and bushier and gave higher fruit yield under shade compared to the open field. Overall, our data suggest that the 21% shade net appeared to be the most suitable for growing eggplants during the autumn to early spring period in Carnarvon. The future perspective of protected cropping technology for vegetable crop production in Carnarvon is also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insight for Vegetable Growing in Protected Structure)
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