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Industrialized Seedling in Vegetable Production: Current Status and Future Prospects

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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 17046

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Domenico Ronga

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Guest Editor

Pharmacy Department, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, n.132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy
Interests: sustainable agriculture; crop production; soil fertility; plant nutrition; organic agriculture; crop physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Farmers as well as nursery growers are called to increase agricultural sustainability. Industrialized vegetable seedling production (IVSP) has emerged and is showing several advantages compared to traditional planting. IVSP is an internationally mature and advanced agricultural technique. However, IVSP requires different external inputs like growing media, fertilizers, plant protection products, etc. Hence, this Special Issue, through the analysis of the current situation, will advocate the sustainable development of the IVSP, sharing the most advanced techniques and managements regarding IVSP. In this regard, this Special Issue will deal with several aspects of industrialized vegetable seedling productions: growing media, biostimulants, plant protection products, grafting, plant growth retardants, decision support systems, sensors, etc. The goal of this Special Issue is to give useful information to nursery growers, allowing a sustainable production of vegetable seedling.

We invite experts and researchers to contribute with original research, reviews, and opinion pieces covering all topics related to industrialized seedling in vegetable production.

Dr. Domenico Ronga
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. Agronomy 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 2600 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

Seedling
Vegetable
Nursery
Transplant
Growing media
Grafting
Microorganisms
Sustainability
Biostimulants
Plant growth retardants

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 2255 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Growth of Cucumber Scions, Rootstocks, and Grafted Seedlings as Affected by Different Irrigation Regimes during Cultivation of ‘Joenbaekdadagi’ and ‘Heukjong’ Seedlings in a Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting

by Sewoong An, Seon Woo Park and Yurina Kwack

Agronomy 2020, 10(12), 1943; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10121943 - 10 Dec 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4036

Abstract

Irrigation scheduling and programming are very effective tools for efficient water use in a plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL). In order to confirm optimal irrigation schemes for the production of cucumber scions and rootstocks in a PFAL, in this study, four different start points of irrigation were applied by measuring the weight of the plug tray to compare the growth of cucumber scions and rootstocks cultivated in a PFAL. Additionally, the growth characteristics of cucumber seedlings grafted with scions and rootstocks cultivated between in a greenhouse and in a PFAL were investigated. Although the growth of cucumber scions and rootstocks was highest when irrigation was conducted at 70% of water content in a medium, the growth of grafted cucumber seedlings before and after transplanting was not significantly different among the irrigation treatments in a PFAL. However, water use efficiency (WUE) during cucumber scions and rootstock production in a PFAL was higher at 60% than at 70%. Considering seedling growth and the efficiency of irrigation such as WUE and irrigation schedule, the optimal start point of irrigation during the production of cucumber scions and rootstocks in a PFAL was determined as 60% of water content in a medium. When the optimal irrigation regime was applied to the production of cucumber scions and rootstocks in a PFAL, the morphological characteristics of cucumber scions and rootstocks cultivated in a PFAL were more suitable for grafting compared with that of the cucumber scions and rootstocks cultivated conventionally in a greenhouse. The favorable environmental conditions during the cultivation of cucumber scions and rootstocks in a PFAL also positively affected the flowering response of cucumber grafted seedlings after transplanting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrialized Seedling in Vegetable Production: Current Status and Future Prospects)

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19 pages, 1488 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Bacterial Inoculum and Fertigation Management on Nursery and Field Production of Lettuce Plants

by Filippo Vetrano, Claudia Miceli, Vincenzo Angileri, Benedetto Frangipane, Alessandra Moncada and Alessandro Miceli

Agronomy 2020, 10(10), 1477; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10101477 - 27 Sep 2020

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 4154

Abstract

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria have been applied to different vegetable crops but there is still no information on the effect of bacterial biostimulant application under variable nutritional level on lettuce seedlings and their performance after transplanting in the field. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a bacterial biostimulant to enhance growth and quality of lettuce seedlings fertigated with increasing nutrient rates and to assess the efficacy of these treatments on lettuce head production. Lettuce seedlings were inoculated with 1.5 g L⁻¹ of TNC Bactorr^S13 (a commercial biostimulant containing 1.3 × 10⁸ CFU g⁻¹ of Bacillus spp.) and fertigated with a nutrient solution containing 0, 1, 2, and 4 g L⁻¹ of NPK fertilizer (20-20-20). At the end of transplant production, the plants were evaluated for greenhouse cultivation. The effect of fertigation rate on seedling height, dry biomass, dry matter percentage, and water use efficiency was evident up to 2 g L⁻¹ of fertilizer in the non-inoculated seedlings, whereas fresh biomass and nitrogen use efficiency changed up to 4 g L⁻¹ of fertilizer. The use of the bacterial biostimulant modified seedling growth and its response to nutrient availability. The inoculation of the substrate with Bacillus spp. promoted plant growth and allowed seedlings to reach the highest height and biomass accumulation. The physiological age of lettuce seedlings showed a strong influence on plant growth and production after transplanting. The bacterial treatment positively affected the yield and nitrate content of lettuce plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrialized Seedling in Vegetable Production: Current Status and Future Prospects)

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16 pages, 1111 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Enhancing Sustainability of Tomato, Pepper and Melon Nursery Production Systems by Using Compost Tea Spray Applications

by Domenica Villecco, Catello Pane, Domenico Ronga and Massimo Zaccardelli

Agronomy 2020, 10(9), 1336; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy10091336 - 05 Sep 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3787

Abstract

Compost teas (CTs) are liquid organic formulates obtained by prolonged extraction, with or without aeration, of a quality compost into an aqueous medium. They can significantly improve plant growth and development likely through nutritive and/or biostimulant mechanisms. In nursery production chain of tomato, pepper and melon, the use of seven CTs was evaluated in order to substitute, totally or partially, chemical treatments with propamocarb-hydrochloride (47.3%) and fosetyl-Al (27.7%), a fungicide for the pathogenic oomycetes control. In general, CTs increased plant growth parameters, as suggested by measurements of root length (+9.1% and +8.1%, on average, on tomato and pepper, respectively), stem diameter (+12% on average, on tomato), number of leaves (+2.6% on average, on melon), and fresh biomass (+8.2% on average, on melon) in comparison with the chemical control. CT from artichoke and fennel composted residues have had the major impact on nursery performances of tomato, pepper and melon. After the first treatment of the polystyrene trays with the fungicide at sowing, our results indicated that CT may replace it in the following seedling production cycle, securing vegetative characteristics of nursery plants similar to the chemical control, that may incite fast starting of transplants in the field stage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrialized Seedling in Vegetable Production: Current Status and Future Prospects)

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Review

Jump to: Research

21 pages, 697 KiB

Open AccessReview

Root Zone Management for Improving Seedling Quality of Organically Produced Horticultural Crops

by Domenico Ronga, Antonella Vitti, Massimo Zaccardelli, Catello Pane, Federica Caradonia, Mariateresa Cardarelli, Giuseppe Colla and Youssef Rouphael

Agronomy 2021, 11(4), 630; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/agronomy11040630 - 26 Mar 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4121

Abstract

Currently, vegetable production systems have been changed to improve yield and quality, leading to an improvement in sustainability. In horticultural cultivation, one of the most important sectors is the seedling production in nurseries. In the past, horticultural seedlings were produced directly by farmers. Nowadays, industrialized nurseries provide seedlings characterized by a uniform growth and an early and contemporaneous development. In addition, consumer concern about the impact of food production on the environment is driving an increased demand for organic vegetables with a consequent increase of agricultural land cultivated by organic methods. Hence, there is a need to produce high-quality seedlings suitable to be cultivated in the organic farming system. Root zone management, for improving seedling quality of organic horticultural crops, remains largely unexploited, such that this review highlights some of the current research and future development priorities, providing useful information to nursery growers. In particular, we reviewed all the scientific and modern knowledge on the production of organic, healthy and vigorous seedlings including the use of: (1) compost and compost tea; (2) agroindustrial byproducts; (3) microbial and non-microbial plant biostimulants; (4) beneficial microorganisms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrialized Seedling in Vegetable Production: Current Status and Future Prospects)

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