The Effects of Shade on Crops: From Greenhouse to Agrivoltaic

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2023) | Viewed by 7589

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Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: table grape; wine grape; fig; pomegranate; pecan; carob; olive; plant nutrition; plant irrigation; soil management; precision agriculture; agrivoltaic; biodiversity; minor fruits
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Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari ‘Aldo Moro’, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: table grape; wine grape; fig; pomegranate; agrivoltaic; biodiversity; minor fruits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The negative impacts of climate change, such as rising temperatures associated with water scarcity, are affecting most agricultural areas. The consequences are noticed on qualitative and quantitative levels for several crops worldwide. The use of shading nets and sunscreen equipment are becoming common under these climatic conditions to reduce the effects of both temperature and water stress on crops. The shading and reduced radiation are conditions that are also present in particular agricultural environments such as oases and greenhouses, and lately to the so-called agrivoltaic systems, i.e, the cultivation of crops beneath photovoltaic panels either in greenhouses or open field.

The purpose of this Special Issue, “The Effects of Shade on Crops: From Greenhouse to Agrivoltaic”, is to present innovative studies, tools, approaches, cultivation conditions, in addressing some of these aspects, such as use of shadow nets, substances, microclimatic modifications, genetic aspects, technological approaches, qualitative and quantitative effects on yield, crop adaptability to agrivoltaic, economical aspects, and any other innovations that have improved the crop cultivation in the changing climate, even combining both renewable energy production and crops for a more resilient and sustainable world.

Dr. Giuseppe Ferrara
Dr. Andrea Mazzeo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • shade
  • agrivoltaic
  • nets
  • greenhouse
  • Vegetables
  • Fruits

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 5559 KiB  
Article
Effect of Low-Light Stress on Sugar and Acid Accumulation during Fruit Development and Ripening of Sweet Cherry
by Wenjing Tang, Chaoqun Chen, Yao Zhang, Yuanqi Chu, Wenlong Yang, Yiling Cui, Guanqiong Kou, Hongxu Chen, Haiyan Song and Ronggao Gong
Horticulturae 2023, 9(6), 654; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae9060654 - 01 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1299
Abstract
In the production process of sweet cherry, there are unreasonable planting densities and tree shape selections. With increasing tree age, the crown of the tree continues to expand and the tree body is prone to canopy closure, which leads to the inability to [...] Read more.
In the production process of sweet cherry, there are unreasonable planting densities and tree shape selections. With increasing tree age, the crown of the tree continues to expand and the tree body is prone to canopy closure, which leads to the inability to efficiently use space and light energy. Low-light has become a major limiting factor in the quality of sweet cherry. Therefore, we analyzed the changes of various physiological indicators and the transcriptome of ‘Hongdeng’ sweet cherry under shading treatment in this study to investigate the effects of low-light stress on the photosynthetic characteristics of sweet cherry leaves and fruit physiology and biochemistry. The results showed that shading significantly reduces the light capture capacity of leaves, damages the photosystem, reduces carbon assimilation capacity, and consumes the majority of the captured light energy as photochemical energy, thereby restricting the growth and development of leaves and reducing the accumulation of nutrients in fruits. Shading significantly reduced fruit weight, sugar content, and vitamin C content at maturity and significantly increased acid content. Transcriptomic data demonstrated that low-light stress produces a large number of differential genes related to carbon metabolism, organic acid metabolism, and stress resistance, thereby suggesting that low-light stress may affect the expression of these related genes and inclusions in the fruit. The results of this study will provide theoretical and technical support for the physiological response mechanism of low-light tolerance in sweet cherry, the selection and breeding of low-light tolerant sweet cherry varieties, and the cultivation of sweet cherry in facilities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Shade on Crops: From Greenhouse to Agrivoltaic)
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15 pages, 4244 KiB  
Article
Agrivoltaic System and Modelling Simulation: A Case Study of Soybean (Glycine max L.) in Italy
by Eleonora Potenza, Michele Croci, Michele Colauzzi and Stefano Amaducci
Horticulturae 2022, 8(12), 1160; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8121160 - 07 Dec 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3681
Abstract
Agrivoltaic systems (AV) combine agricultural activities with the production of electricity from photovoltaic (PV) panels on the same land area. The concept of AV systems was introduced in 1982 by Goetzberger and Zastrow, but only more recently have the increased environmental concerns and [...] Read more.
Agrivoltaic systems (AV) combine agricultural activities with the production of electricity from photovoltaic (PV) panels on the same land area. The concept of AV systems was introduced in 1982 by Goetzberger and Zastrow, but only more recently have the increased environmental concerns and the favorable economic and political frameworks stimulated a growing interest in this technology. A critical issue in the development of AV is the selection of crops that can grow profitably under the micrometeorological conditions generated by AV systems. This experiment studied the effect of four different shade depth treatments (AV1 = 27%, AV2 = 16%, AV3 = 9%, and AV4 = 18%) on the morphology, physiology, and yield of a soybean crop grown under a large-scale AV system. The field results were used to validate the output of a simulation platform that couples the crop model GECROS with a set of algorithms for the estimation and spatialisation of the shading, radiation, and crop-related outputs. Crop height, leaf area index (LAI), and specific leaf area (SLA) all increased under the most shaded AV areas compared to the full light (FL, control) conditions. On average, under an AV system, the grain yield and the number of pods per plant were reduced by 8% and 13%, and in only one area (AV2) was a slight increase in grain yield (+4.4%) observed in comparison to the FL. The normalised root mean square error (nRMSE) value of the predicted grain yield differed from the observed grain values of 12.9% for the FL conditions, 15.7% in AV1, 16.5% in AV2, 6.71% in AV3, and 2.82% in AV4. Although the model simulated the yield satisfactorily, the results of the RMSE revealed that the model tends to underestimate the yield with an increase in shade, particularly for the AV1 and AV2 conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Shade on Crops: From Greenhouse to Agrivoltaic)
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17 pages, 3481 KiB  
Article
Effects of Shading Nets on Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation, Photosynthetic Changes, and Associated Physiochemical Attributes in Promoting Cold-Induced Damage in Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze
by Shah Zaman, Jiazhi Shen, Shuangshuang Wang, Yu Wang, Zhaotang Ding, Dapeng Song, Hui Wang, Shibo Ding, Xu Pang and Mengqi Wang
Horticulturae 2022, 8(7), 637; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8070637 - 14 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1703
Abstract
Climate change and extreme weather affect tea growing. A competitive tea market needs quick, short-term solutions. This study evaluates the effects of various shade nets under mild and extreme cold stress on tea leaf physiology, photosynthetic alterations, antioxidant activities, and physiochemical characteristics. Tea [...] Read more.
Climate change and extreme weather affect tea growing. A competitive tea market needs quick, short-term solutions. This study evaluates the effects of various shade nets under mild and extreme cold stress on tea leaf physiology, photosynthetic alterations, antioxidant activities, and physiochemical characteristics. Tea plants were treated with SD0 (0% non-shading), SD1 (30% shading), SD2 (60% shading), and SD3 (75% shading). The 30%, 60%, and 75% shade nets shielded tea leaves from cold damage and reduced leaf injury during mild and extreme cold conditions compared with SD0% non-shading. Shading regulates photochemical capacity and efficiency and optimizes chlorophyll a and b, chlorophyll, and carotenoid contents. Moreover, carbon and nitrogen increased during mild cold and decreased in extreme cold conditions. Shading promoted antioxidant activity and physiochemical attributes. In fact, under 60% of shade, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, and ω-3 alpha-linolenic acid were improved compared with SD0% non-shading during both mild and extreme cold conditions. From these findings, we hypothesized that the effect of different shades played an important role in the protection of tea leaves and alleviated the defense mechanism for “Zhong Cha 102” during exposure to a cold environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Effects of Shade on Crops: From Greenhouse to Agrivoltaic)
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