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Horticulturae
Special Issues
Strategies and Practices of Fertilization Management of Horticultural Crops
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Strategies and Practices of Fertilization Management of Horticultural Crops

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2022) | Viewed by 7961

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Tomo Miloševíć

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Fruit Growing and Viticulture, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Kragujevac, 32000 Čačak, Serbia
Interests: pomology; fruit growing technology; pome and stone fruits; fertilization; fruit quality
Dr. Nebojša Milošević

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pomology and Fruit Breeding, Fruit Research Institute Čačak, 32000 Čačak, Serbia
Interests: fruit breeding; pomology; fruit growing technology; plum cultivars, fruit quality

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few decades, the production of horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, aromatics, medicinal, and flower plants) has increased rapidly worldwide. The reasons for the large increase in the production of horticultural crops are numerous, but the most important are the raising of new plantations in countries that have not previously had significant production and the improvement of growing technology in countries that are traditionally large producers. New cultivation technologies, including fertilization, are key factors that have contributed to the achievement of the high productivity and quality described above. Previously, traditional fruit growing was based on the natural soil fertility and application of mineral (especially nitrogen) fertilizers in large quantities. This inevitably led to the degradation and devastation of soil, the reduction or loss of fertility, and the contamination of soil, water, air, and of course fruits and vegetables. Such fruits are not safe for consumption. This should add to the high price of mineral fertilizers that significantly burden the costs of production of horticultural crops. More recently, the agronomic professions and agronomic science have been facing great challenges in horticultural plant fertilization. The new doctrine of fertilizing horticultural crops is based on exact and precise models that contribute to the rational application of organic, organomineral, and mineral fertilizers, as well as soil conditioners such as natural zeolites, to obtain high and regular productivity and fruit quality without any risks to human health or environmental pollution and, of course, a drastic reduction of production costs. Only then can one consciously draw up a nutrient balance for a given horticultural crop according to the principle “as much as necessary, as little as possible.”

This Special Issue of Horticulturae will provide new strategies and practices from the most significant research carried out in the field of fertilization of horticultural crops in order to improve their quality and enable their economically justified and sustainable production without presenting risks to human health or environmental pollution.

Prof. Dr. Tomo Miloševíć
Dr. Nebojša Milošević
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. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 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

  • horticultural crops
  • fertilization
  • sustainable production
  • quality
  • yield

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2535 KiB  
Article
Advance Time to Determine Injection and Flushing Times in Drip Fertigation
by Gustavo Henrique da Silva, Fernando França da Cunha and Letícia Fonseca Anício de Brito
Horticulturae 2022, 8(12), 1103; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8121103 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1351
Abstract
Drip fertigation has shown unquestionable benefits in recent decades compared to traditional farming fertilization practices. However, a fertilizer dissolved in the irrigation water must be evenly distributed in the fertigated area. Irrigation system and fertigation system characteristics and operational management potentially affect the [...] Read more.
Drip fertigation has shown unquestionable benefits in recent decades compared to traditional farming fertilization practices. However, a fertilizer dissolved in the irrigation water must be evenly distributed in the fertigated area. Irrigation system and fertigation system characteristics and operational management potentially affect the uniformity of fertilizer and water distribution. Advance time (AT), which is an intrinsic and determinable characteristic of the irrigation system, has not been assessed as a useful technical criterion for managing the uniformity of fertilizer distribution in drip fertigation. The objective of this study was to assess the use of advance time as a technical criterion for determining the duration of injection time and flushing time that provides a satisfactory uniformity of spatial distribution of the fertilizer in drip fertigation. Therefore, the distribution uniformity of potassium chloride (KCl) fertilizer and water was evaluated at six injection times equivalent to 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200% AT, and two flushing times equivalent to 100 and 200% AT through Christiansen’s uniformity coefficient (CU) and distribution uniformity (DU). The used drip irrigation system had 10 drip strips with 12.5 m length, a flow rate of 1.40 L h−1 per dripper, and AT of 12.5 min. The injection solution was prepared with 40 g L−1 of KCl. The results indicate that the distribution uniformity of KCl improved significantly with increasing injection time. The injection time of 200% AT promoted the greatest uniformity of distribution of KCl with CU of 0.977 and DU of 0.962. The flushing time of 100% AT was sufficient to rinse the irrigation system and promoted a satisfactory spatial distribution uniformity with a CU of 0.983. In both tests, the uniformity of irrigation water distribution was satisfactory, with CU of 0.988 and DU of 0.982 (average). Advance time is an intrinsic characteristic of the irrigation system that is useful in determining the duration of injection time and flushing time in a more technical way for drip fertigation with satisfactory spatial distribution uniformity of the fertilizer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Practices of Fertilization Management of Horticultural Crops)
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12 pages, 1754 KiB  
Article
High Nitrogen Fertilization Decreases Seed Weight but Increases Longevity in Tomato Seeds
by Javier Sánchez, Francisco Albornoz and Samuel Contreras
Horticulturae 2022, 8(10), 942; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8100942 - 14 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1290
Abstract
Nitrogen fertilization is a key practice in agriculture and its effects on yield and quality of most commodity products are widely known. However, the response of seed production to N fertilization, especially with regard to its effects on seed quality, is still poorly [...] Read more.
Nitrogen fertilization is a key practice in agriculture and its effects on yield and quality of most commodity products are widely known. However, the response of seed production to N fertilization, especially with regard to its effects on seed quality, is still poorly understood. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of N fertilization on tomato seed yield and quality. Six quality attributes were assessed (weight, standard germination, germination rate under normal and adverse conditions, dormancy and longevity) in tomato cv. Moneymaker plants fertigated with one of three nutrient solutions differing in their N concentration: 5, 15 or 25 mM. Seed weight decreased by 4% with increasing N fertilization while standard germination and mean germination time did not vary among treatments, with average values of 89.7% and 6.2 days, respectively. The percentage and rate of germination decreased when seeds were imbibed in solutions with reduced osmotic potential; however, this effect was less pronounced in seeds from the 25 mM treatment, indicating a lower dormancy. When germination was evaluated after accelerated aging, seeds from the high N fertilization treatment showed greater longevity. These results contribute to optimizing fertilization practices for the production of high quality tomato seeds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Practices of Fertilization Management of Horticultural Crops)
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13 pages, 2250 KiB  
Article
Decreased Solution pH and Increased K+ Uptake Are Related to Ammonium Tolerance in Hydroponically Cultured Plants
by Jinnan Song, Jingli Yang and Byoung Ryong Jeong
Horticulturae 2022, 8(3), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8030228 - 7 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2365
Abstract
The ammonium (NH4+) tolerance of plants is an important issue in agriculture, associated with several plant characteristics. So far, plant tissue acidification has been shown as the primary cause of NH4+ toxicity. Suppressed plant growth caused by excess [...] Read more.
The ammonium (NH4+) tolerance of plants is an important issue in agriculture, associated with several plant characteristics. So far, plant tissue acidification has been shown as the primary cause of NH4+ toxicity. Suppressed plant growth caused by excess NH4+ can be counteracted by potassium (K+) application. However, the effects of NH4+ tolerances on the differences regarding pH changes together with K+ uptake remain to be determined. Here, we performed an 84 h hydroponic cultivation of five species with different NH4+ tolerances, subjected to three NH4+:NO3− solutions (0:100, 50:50, or 100:0), to investigate the pH changes and ion uptakes. Consequently, the solution pH was lowered over time to varying extents in the presence of NH4+. The NH4+-tolerant ageratum and lettuce, shown to be tolerant to NH4+ in this trial, rapidly lowered the solution pH, whereas extremely NH4+-sensitive salvia and cabbage only gave a minor decrease in the solution pH when grown with 100:0 NH4+:NO3−. Additionally, the increased external NH4+ level led to a substantial decline in the net cation influxes (K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+). As compared to solely NH4+-fed salvia and cabbage, solely NH4+-fed ageratum and lettuce ultimately showed a relatively greater net K+ influx. Taken together, this study discusses how the decreases in pH and K+ are related to NH4+ tolerance in five hydroponically cultured species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Practices of Fertilization Management of Horticultural Crops)
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18 pages, 298 KiB  
Article
Quality Responses of Table Grapes ‘Flame Seedless’ as Effected by Foliarly Applied Micronutrients
by Irfan Ali, Xiukang Wang, Wazir Mohsin Abbas, Mahmood Ul Hassan, Muhammad Shafique, Mohammad Javed Tareen, Sajid Fiaz, Waseem Ahmed and Abdul Qayyum
Horticulturae 2021, 7(11), 462; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7110462 - 3 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2038
Abstract
Micronutrient (iron, zinc and boron) deficiencies are a basic and prominent factor affecting grape quality and yield in the Pothwar region. To overcome these deficiencies, different levels of micronutrients were applied foliarly on grapevines at five different berry developmental stages during two consecutive [...] Read more.
Micronutrient (iron, zinc and boron) deficiencies are a basic and prominent factor affecting grape quality and yield in the Pothwar region. To overcome these deficiencies, different levels of micronutrients were applied foliarly on grapevines at five different berry developmental stages during two consecutive growing seasons (2018 and 2019). The data suggested that foliar treatment of micronutrients significantly increased the yield, number of bunches per vine, bunch weight, yield per vines, bunch length, berry number per cluster, berry diameter, berry weight and cluster compactness. The biochemical quality attributes of berries, including sugars (reducing, non-reducing as well as total sugars), ascorbic acid content, pH and TSS values, were at their highest levels in grapevines supplemented with Fe, Zn and B treatment at 200 ppm, respectively, i.e., the highest concentrations used. Biochemical leaf values, including chlorophyll a and b and leaf micronutrient content (Fe, Zn and B), were also highest in grapevines that were sprayed with Fe, Zn and B at 200 ppm. Overall, the results revealed that the performance of grapevine cv. ‘Flame Seedless’ growing in agroclimatic conditions of the Pothwar region was improved as a result of the foliar application of Fe, Zn and B at 200 ppm. The results also suggested that a further increase in the concentration of each nutrient might be helpful to obtain berries of improved quantity and quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Strategies and Practices of Fertilization Management of Horticultural Crops)
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