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New Insights into Sustainable Agriculture Management: Woody, Horticultural, and Ornamental Crops

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Forestry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 4166

Special Issue Editors

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC Department of Irrigation
Interests: water stress; regulated deficit irrigation strategies; precise irrigation scheduling by means of soil–plant-based sensors; plant responses to water stress; soil–plant–environment water relationships; spectral and thermal data to assess water stress, yield, and fruit quality attributes; woody and horticultural crops
Irrigation Department, Spanish National Research Council (CEBAS-CSIC), Murcia, Spain
Interests: saline water and reclaimed wastewater; plant environmental stress; ecophysiology; water use efficiency; plant water status indicators; arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; plant growth-promoting bacteria; horticultural crops
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The insufficiency of freshwater for agricultural purposes and the environmental protection incentive have driven farmers to adopt new sustainable approaches to satisfy water requirements, not only in woody crops but also in horticultural crops and ornamental plants. Within the context of climate change, with increasing drought and soil degradation worldwide, employing irrigation management strategies is essential to ensure the future development of irrigated agriculture. Regarding sustainable strategies to help plants save water and mitigate the harmful effects of drought, the most commonly known are: (1) regulated deficit irrigation (RDI); (2) the irrigation of low quality water, such as desalinated seawater and reclaimed wastewater, which often face salinity problems; and (3) the application of plant biostimulants based on microorganisms. The goal is to optimize the balance between the use of resources (water, nutrients, etc.) and yield efficiency and quality of the crop. To ascertain abiotic stress, the use of soil–plant-based water status indicators has become popular for planning precise irrigation, which are often monitored with sensors and emerging new technologies such as unmanaged vehicles that provided spectral and thermal data. Additionally, the application of plant biostimulants is a sustainable practice that increases water and nutrient uptake by the plant, some of which enhance plant tolerance to drought and saline stress.

This Special Issue of Sustainability seeks original research and review manuscripts on woody, horticultural, and ornamental crops to confront saline and water stress, with a focus on:

  • Irrigation strategies to optimize water use efficiency
  • Monitoring techniques by soil–plant-based sensors for sustainable irrigation management
  • Use of non-conventional water resources for irrigation: wastewater, saline, and desalinated water
  • Innovate approaches for assessing both stresses (spectral and thermal information)
  • Physiological and agronomical crop performance
  • Use of biostimulants in agriculture (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant-growth-promoting bacteria, among others).

Dr. María R. Conesa
Dr. María José Gómez-Bellot
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. Sustainability 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 2400 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

  • saline and water stress
  • regulated deficit irrigation
  • desalinated and wastewater
  • plant biostimulants
  • plant–soil-based water status indicators
  • precise irrigation scheduling
  • water use efficiency
  • ecophysiology
  • irrigation and soil management

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 6112 KiB  
Article
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus Stimulates Young Field-Grown Nectarine Trees
by María R. Conesa, Lidia López-Martínez, Wenceslao Conejero, Juan Vera and María Carmen Ruiz-Sánchez
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 8804; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13168804 - 06 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1204
Abstract
Although mycorrhizae applications have been widely used to improve the establishment and growth of agricultural crops, there have been no studies on their application in field-grown nectarine trees. In this work, a commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF; Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum) was [...] Read more.
Although mycorrhizae applications have been widely used to improve the establishment and growth of agricultural crops, there have been no studies on their application in field-grown nectarine trees. In this work, a commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF; Glomus iranicum var. tenuihypharum) was applied by means of fertigation to inoculate young “Flariba” nectarine trees grown in south-eastern Spain to evaluate its effect on plant water status, and vegetative and reproductive growth. Using minirhizotrons to measure the root dynamics over a complete growing season, revealed that AMF substantially increased root growth (51% increase compared with untreated trees), while no changes in plant water status or canopy development were noted. The productive response improved in inoculated trees, as demonstrated by a significantly higher yield, fruit size, number of fruits per tree and greater crop load efficiency values than in untreated trees. Given that the same amount of irrigation solution was applied in both treatments, the irrigation water use efficiency increased by 19.5% in AMF compared with untreated trees. The findings of this study suggest that a simple inoculation of AMF can be considered a good practice in semi-arid agro-systems to firmly establish efficient young nectarine trees and enhance their adaptation to field conditions. Full article
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14 pages, 3211 KiB  
Article
Influence of Plant Biostimulant as Technique to Harden Citrus Nursery Plants before Transplanting to the Field
by María R. Conesa, Pedro J. Espinosa, Diego Pallarés and Alejandro Pérez-Pastor
Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 6190; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12156190 - 31 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2440
Abstract
The supply of commercial plant biostimulants (PB) for sustainable agriculture is currently very broad but also confusing, as there is little information on their use to mitigate the negative effects of water stress on plants growing in areas of water scarcity. The issue [...] Read more.
The supply of commercial plant biostimulants (PB) for sustainable agriculture is currently very broad but also confusing, as there is little information on their use to mitigate the negative effects of water stress on plants growing in areas of water scarcity. The issue addressed in this article deals with the effects of Amalgerol®, a PB and soil conditioner mainly based on seaweed extracts (SWEs), on the water relations and the growth patterns of mandarin trees grown in pots and their response to a subsequent period of water stress compared with un-treated plants. When the SWE treatment accumulated 75 mL of product, plants exhibited an increase in vegetative growth and higher values of gas exchange rate, with 57% higher substrate microbiological activity than un-treated plants. After this, the irrigation was completely suppressed in all plants until a mean threshold value of −1.6 MPa of midday stem water potential was reached, and it was then reestablished after 7 consecutive days. The un-treated plants showed a higher level of water stress, around 0.4–0.7 MPa, compared to the treated ones, recovering at least three days after irrigation recovery. Furthermore, the presence of mycorrhized roots was 60% higher than un-treated plants, which resulted in greater resistance to water stress. The use of Amalgerol® resulted in a good complement for mineral plant fertilization in semi-arid agrosystems, where water resources are limited, allowing the hardening of citrus nursery plants, which can contribute to their more efficient field transplantation in water scarcity areas. Full article
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