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Fertilizer Management: Enhancing Crop Yield and Produce Quality
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Fertilizer Management: Enhancing Crop Yield and Produce Quality

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2024 | Viewed by 2669

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Johnvie Goloran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Interests: nitrogen dynamics; remediation; soil quality; nitrogen fertilizer
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The decreasing global supply of fertilizer and skyrocketing increase in its value have led to a demand for fertilizer management strategies that are cost effective and ensure that the yield potential of the crops and desired quality will be achieved. Fertilizer management (FM) is crucial to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in fertilization programs, whether they are soil-based, foliar-based, or a combination of both, including organic and inorganic (synthetic) fertilization strategies; additionally, the use of soil–plant nutrient diagnostic tools and advanced fertilization technologies is also important. Moreover, FM should aim to minimize nutrient loss and maximize the nutrient use efficiency of the crops, which are influenced by soil types, climatic conditions, cropping systems, and farmers’ practices. FM underpins sustainable cropping systems as it places both soil health or fertility status and crop nutritional requirements as its core components, ensuring that over- and under-fertilization of the crops, which both have negative impacts not only on crop yields and produce quality but also on the environment, are prevented. This Special Issue highlights the significance of FM in improving crop yield and addresses the most pressing quality issues in food and industrial crops in a cost-effective manner across various cropping systems, with a strong preference for research work carried out under open-field conditions. Further, it welcomes work that sheds light on the pivotal role of FM, with a focus on balanced fertilization strategies for improving crop yields and the quality of produce

Dr. Johnvie Goloran
Guest Editor

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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • organic and inorganic fertilizers
  • balanced fertilization
  • soil fertility
  • plant nutrition

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 914 KiB  
Article
Impacts of N-P-K-Mg Fertilizer Combinations on Tree Parameters and Fungal Disease Incidences in Apple Cultivars with Varying Disease Susceptibility
by Ádám Csihon, István Gonda, Marianna Sipos and Imre J. Holb
Plants 2024, 13(9), 1217; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13091217 (registering DOI) - 28 Apr 2024
Viewed by 231
Abstract
Adequate mineral fertilization helps to ensure optimal tree growth, fruit development, and predictable yield of apple trees. This 7-year study (2016–2022) aims to investigate the effect of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and magnesium (Mg) fertilizer combinations (NP, NPK, NPKMg, and control) [...] Read more.
Adequate mineral fertilization helps to ensure optimal tree growth, fruit development, and predictable yield of apple trees. This 7-year study (2016–2022) aims to investigate the effect of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and magnesium (Mg) fertilizer combinations (NP, NPK, NPKMg, and control) on eight parameters (trunk cross-sectional area—TCSA; fruit yield—FY; number of fruit per tree—FNT; crop load—CL; fruit diameter—FD; fruit weight—FW; fruit scab incidence—FSI; and powdery mildew incidence on shoot—PMIS) on the cultivars (cvs) ‘Golden Reinders’ (disease susceptible) and ‘Pinova’ (scab and mildew tolerant). In the 7-year period, TCSA values continuously increased for both cultivars over the years. Fertilizer treatments showed significant differences on TCSA but the effect varied greatly annually among fertilizer treatments. Fertilizer treatments had increasing effects on FY and FNT in 2018 and 2022, on CL in 2018, on FD in 2018 and 2019, and on FW in 2016 and 2018 in both cultivars compared to the control treatment. FSI values were the lowest in the NPKMg treatment for cv. ‘Golden Reinders’ in 2016, 2017, and 2022; for cv. ‘Pinova’ in 2016; PMIS values for cv. ‘Golden Reinders’ in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022; and for cv. ‘Pinova’ in 2018. Correlation and regression analyses revealed strong and significant (p = 0.05) relationships between FNT versus (vs.) TCSA, FNT vs. FY, FW vs. TCSA, CL vs. FY, FW vs. FD, and FSI vs. FW. In conclusion, our study showed that multiyear application of fertilizer combinations can successfully increase TCSA and yield parameters as well as reduce fungal disease incidences, especially on the disease-susceptible cultivar in sandy soil with moderate fertility, under Central-European continental climate conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fertilizer Management: Enhancing Crop Yield and Produce Quality)
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24 pages, 2329 KiB  
Article
Effect of Bio-Fertilizer Application on Agronomic Traits, Yield, and Nutrient Uptake of Barley (Hordeum vulgare) in Saline Soil
by Mashael M. Alotaibi, Alya Aljuaid, Ibtisam Mohammed Alsudays, Abeer S. Aloufi, Aisha Nawaf AlBalawi, Abdulrahman Alasmari, Suliman Mohammed Suliman Alghanem, Bedur Faleh Albalawi, Khairiah Mubarak Alwutayd, Hany S. Gharib and Mamdouh M. A. Awad-Allah
Plants 2024, 13(7), 951; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13070951 - 25 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1008
Abstract
Under salinity conditions, growth and productivity of grain crops decrease, leading to inhibition and limited absorption of water and elements necessary for plant growth, osmotic imbalance, ionic stress, and oxidative stress. Microorganisms in bio-fertilizers have several mechanisms to provide benefits to crop plants [...] Read more.
Under salinity conditions, growth and productivity of grain crops decrease, leading to inhibition and limited absorption of water and elements necessary for plant growth, osmotic imbalance, ionic stress, and oxidative stress. Microorganisms in bio-fertilizers have several mechanisms to provide benefits to crop plants and reduce the harmful effect of salinity. They can be effective in dissolving phosphate, fixing nitrogen, promoting plant growth, and can have a combination of all these qualities. During two successful agricultural seasons, two field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of bio-fertilizer applications, including phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB), nitrogen fixation bacteria and a mix of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and nitrogen fixation bacteria with three rates, 50, 75 and 100% NPK, of the recommended dose of minimal fertilizer on agronomic traits, yield and nutrient uptake of barley (Hordeum vulgare) under saline condition in Village 13, Farafra Oasis, New Valley Governorate, Egypt. The results showed that the application of Microbein + 75% NPK recorded the highest values of plant height, spike length, number of spikes/m2, grain yield (Mg ha−1), straw yield (Mg ha−1), biological yield (Mg ha−1), protein content %, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) uptakes in grain and straw (kg ha−1), available nitrogen (mg/kg soil), available phosphorus (mg/kg soil), total microbial count of soil, antioxidant activity of soil (AOA), dehydrogenase, nitrogen fixers, and PSB counts. The application of bio-fertilizers led to an increase in plant tolerance to salt stress, plant growth, grain yield, and straw yield, in addition to the application of the bio-fertilizers, which resulted in a 25% saving in the cost of mineral fertilizers used in barley production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fertilizer Management: Enhancing Crop Yield and Produce Quality)
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24 pages, 1590 KiB  
Article
Application of ZnO NPs, SiO2 NPs and Date Pollen Extract as Partial Substitutes to Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium Fertilizers for Sweet Basil Production
by El-Sayed Mohamed El-Mahrouk, Ekramy Abdel Moatamed Atef, Mohamed Kadry Gabr, Mahmoud Ahmed Aly, Aleksandra Głowacka and Mohamed A. A. Ahmed
Plants 2024, 13(2), 172; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13020172 - 08 Jan 2024
Viewed by 953
Abstract
The reduction in mineral fertilizer usage is crucial to the production of medicinal and aromatic products for safety and health purposes. Presently, nanotechnology and the utilization of natural extracts have been extensively studied due to their significant contribution. Ocimum basilicum is commonly employed [...] Read more.
The reduction in mineral fertilizer usage is crucial to the production of medicinal and aromatic products for safety and health purposes. Presently, nanotechnology and the utilization of natural extracts have been extensively studied due to their significant contribution. Ocimum basilicum is commonly employed for various medicinal and aromatic applications. Therefore, randomized complete block design field experiments containing 10 treatments were conducted during the 2021 and 2022 seasons to investigate the effect of nanoparticles (NPs) of ZnO (1.5 and 2.0 g/L) and SiO2 (100 and 150 mg/L) and date palm pollen extract (DPPE) at 10 and 20 g/L either alone or in combination with the ¾ or ½ NPK recommended dose (RD). The NPK RD was served as a control treatment on basil plant production in each season. The effectiveness of ZnO NPs, SiO2 NPs, and DPPE for the decrease in NPK utilization was evaluated. Meanwhile, the most effective treatment for vegetative traits (except for plant height), essential oil %, and yield was ½ NPK RD + 20 g/L DPPE + 2.0 g/L ZnO NPs. Such a treatment increased the branch number/plant, main stem diameter, relevant chlorophyll content, fresh weight/plant, dry weight/plant, essential oil %, and essential oil yield/plant by 21.00 and 9.94%, 58.70 and 40.00%, 20.69 and 15.83%, 68.83 and 58.28%, 48.70 and 56.16%, 45.71 and 35.53%, and 113.22 and 110.32% over the control in the two seasons, respectively. For total phenol and antioxidant activity, the most effective treatments were the ¾ NPK +1.5 g/L ZnO NPs and ½ NPK +2.0 g/L ZnO NPs, respectively. Simultaneously, essential oil composition (with their compound numbers identified (11–29 for control and ¾ NPK RD + 1.5 g/L ZnO NPs)) and the percentage of total compounds, monoterpene hydrocarbons, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, and oxygenated hydrocarbons were varied among the used applications. The major observed compounds (>8%) estragole, methyl eugenol, linalool, cineole, and caryophyllene were found in different treatments. Thus, the findings of this study indicate the favorable utilization of ZnO NPs, SiO2 NPs, and DPPE in reducing the application of NPK, which may present a novel strategy and beneficial approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fertilizer Management: Enhancing Crop Yield and Produce Quality)
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