Strategies to Valorize Horticultural Crop Chains Related to Protected Cultivation, under the Circular Economy Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

Vegetable crops are widespread worldwide and characterized by management systems differing from each other regarding the farming and post-harvest practices performed. However, all the systems should be managed to make them sustainable, both under production and environmental safeguard perspectives. The crucial role of either farming, post-harvest, or environmental factors on vegetable chains has received the scientific community’s attention and stimulated its research interests.

Among farming practices, fertilization plays a major role, as all essential macro- and micro-nutrients should be supplied to fulfill plant requirements for growth and development, thus boosting crop yield and improving produce quality. The use of beneficial microorganisms interacting with those naturally present in the plants, such as nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacteria, may enhance plant nutrient absorption, growth, yield, and quality, and affect antioxidant synthesis and activity.

Post-harvest management may regard all the possible types of product conditioning and/or processing and, in this respect, the final yield, quality, antioxidant compounds and activity, mineral composition, and waste valorization should be addressed.

Indeed, the several bibliographic reports relevant to the present topics have not resolved all the issues that have arisen and, therefore, in this interesting field of research, plenty of challenges should be addressed. In this respect, remarkable attention should be paid to the interactive dynamics among nutrient uptake, plant development, and the synthesis of antioxidants. The latter are essential plant secondary metabolites acting in plant growth as well as in plant–microbe, plant–plant, and plant-environment relationships, whose presence in significant concentrations also allows the production of vegetables labeled as functional foods.

In this Special Issue, we warmly welcome articles (original research, reviews, modeling approaches, perspectives, and opinions) that focus on factors affecting yield, quality, antioxidant compounds and activity, mineral composition, and the waste valorization of vegetable chains in the greenhouse cropping phase and/or in post-harvest management, carried out in investigations regarding the agronomical, biochemical, physiological, and genetic aspects of plants, soil, the microbiome, nutrients, and hormone interactions in any vegetable species, including those that are industry-oriented (legumes, tomato, and potato).

Prof. Dr. Gianluca Caruso
Prof. Dr. Agnieszka Sękara
Dr. Alessio Vincenzo Tallarita
Prof. Dr. Vasile Stoleru
Guest Editors

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• protected cultivation
• circular economy
• sustainable production
• quality, antioxidant properties
• mineral composition
• waste valorization