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Horticulturae
Special Issues
Use of Covering Methods in Fruit Cultivation and Precision Orchard...
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Use of Covering Methods in Fruit Cultivation and Precision Orchard Management

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Fruit Production Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 October 2024 | Viewed by 1421

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Richard M. Bastías

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Facultad de Agronomía, Departamento de Producción Vegetal, Universidad de Concepción, Chillán 3812120, Chile
Interests: fruit tree physiology; protected fruit growing; precision orchard management
Dr. Lee Kalcsits

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Horticulture, Washington State University, 1100 N Western Ave., Wenatchee, WA 98801, USA
Interests: tree fruit physiology; plant nutrition; abiotic stress; impacts of pre harvest environment on post harvest physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Arturo Alberto Calderón-Orellana

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Guest Editor
Facultad de Agronomía, Departamento de Producción Vegetal, Universidad de Concepción, Chillán 3812120, Chile
Interests: drought; deficit irrigation; plant water relations; water stress; vineyards and fruit orchards

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit cultivation under covering and precision orchard management are two techniques that have been expanding in recent years to achieve more resilient and sustainable fruit production systems.

Protected orchards under covers help to reduce losses in fruit yield and quality due to abiotic (solar radiation, heat, hail, rain, frost and water shortage) and biotic (pests and diseases) factors. These systems include different designs (roofs, high tunnels, greenhouses) and materials (plastics, nets, woven). In recent years, photo-selective covers have been developed to optimize the physiology, yield and fruit quality, while the incorporation of covering with photovoltaic panels is currently in development for more energy-efficient orchard systems.

Precision orchard management includes smart tools, such as sensors, artificial intelligence, mechanization and robotics, to optimize horticultural practices such as pruning, crop load regulation, irrigation, nutrition, and harvest, improving the efficiency in the use of resources and mitigating environmental impacts. It also includes the use of modelling and engineering tools to predict harvests and adverse meteorological events and to create more efficient orchard designs.

For this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of articles on the physiological, environmental, horticultural, and technological advances in fruit cultivation under covering systems and precision orchard management of deciduous and evergreen fruit trees.

Dr. Richard M. Bastías
Dr. Lee Kalcsits
Dr. Arturo Alberto Calderón-Orellana
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

  • protected fruit growing
  • smart fruticulture
  • physiology
  • sensors
  • robotics

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 4966 KiB  
Article
Chromatic Effects of Supplemental Light on the Fruit Quality of Strawberries
by Ni Tang, Jiyong Wang, Baofeng Zhang, Hao Chen and Min Qiu
Horticulturae 2023, 9(12), 1333; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/horticulturae9121333 - 12 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1013
Abstract
Supplemental light is widely applied in greenhouses to promote the production and flavor of strawberries in global markets. The present selections of colored lights are, however, quite empirical or qualitative, from the perspective of photometry or colorimetry, which lacks precision. The accurate control [...] Read more.
Supplemental light is widely applied in greenhouses to promote the production and flavor of strawberries in global markets. The present selections of colored lights are, however, quite empirical or qualitative, from the perspective of photometry or colorimetry, which lacks precision. The accurate control of chromatic parameters of supplemental light and their chromatic influences on fruit quality have been under-studied. In this study, color parameters including ten groups of correlated color temperatures (CCTs-2250 K, 2400 K, 2600 K, 2800 K, 3000 K, 3500 K, 4000 K, 4500 K, 5000 K, and 6000 K) and two groups of illuminances (600 lx and 1000 lx) of supplemental lights were precisely controlled using a digital color-coding method applied to LED supplemental lights, and the strawberry was irradiated with the LED supplemental light from December 2021 to March 2022 in facilities cultivation (greenhouse). Moreover, the irradiation time was 6 h per day (4:00 a.m.–7:00 a.m., 5:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.). We systematically investigated the chromatic effects of supplemental light on five parameters of strawberries: plant height, single weight, fruit hardness, soluble solids, and titratable acids. The results showed that the supplemental light generally lowered the single weight by 14% and fruit hardness by 6%, and increased plant height by 21%, the contents of soluble solids by 7.4%, and titratable acids by 27%. The chromatic dependences of the five parameters were different and might be strengthened, weakened, or shifted by light illuminance. Our results demonstrated the beneficial roles of supplemental light in accelerating maturation and enhancing the flavor of strawberries in greenhouse cultivation. These results provided valuable guidance for the effective cultivation of strawberries. Moreover, the controlling method for accurate colors was ready for the implementation of supplemental lights in other fruits or plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Use of Covering Methods in Fruit Cultivation and Precision Orchard Management)
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