Organic Horticulture

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2015) | Viewed by 10768

Special Issue Editor

Department of Horticulture, University of Kentucky, N318 Agricultural Sciences North, Lexington, KY 40546, USA
Interests: fruit set and development; polyol metabolism; ripening and senescence;aroma volatiles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The organic production of horticultural crops has experienced some of the greatest growth within horticulture in recent years. This growth is driven by both growers’ desires for more sustainable systems, and by consumer’s concerns for their and their family’s health and for the environment. As growers seek to establish and expand organic production to meet these demands, they will need to adopt sound, scientifically-based production practices. While the broader interpretation of “organic” and of related practices may be generally understood and viewed as desirable (i.e., no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, no genetically modified plants, and the promotion of soil and plant health), the rapid evolution of specific practices and production systems suggests that they may be neither well-established nor been subjected to sufficient scientific scrutiny to determine their appropriateness for broader adoption. Nonetheless, significant progress has been and is being made towards establishing site-specific to system-level practices for the successful organic production of fruit, vegetable, and ornamental crops. This Special Issue focuses on reviews of research under a broad definition of “organic horticulture”. The Special Issue's scope encompasses production practices and systems that may be alternatively defined as eco-agriculture, natural farming, biodynamic agriculture, regenerative agriculture, permaculture, etc. Horticulturae is seeking reviews of research within any and all of these alternatives to conventional horticultural production. Specific topics can be wide-ranging (i.e., across crops, system-level approaches) to narrowly-focused (i.e., a specific region, crop, or practice) and are at the discretion of the author(s).

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Douglas Archbold

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

  • horticulture
  • organic agriculture
  • natural farming
  • eco-agriculture
  • biodynamic agriculture
  • regenerative agriculture
  • permaculture

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

213 KiB  
Review
Bioherbicides in Organic Horticulture
by Xiaoya Cai and Mengmeng Gu
Horticulturae 2016, 2(2), 3; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae2020003 - 29 Mar 2016
Cited by 42 | Viewed by 9989
Abstract
Organic horticulture producers rank weeds as one of their most troublesome, time-consuming, and costly production problems. With the increasing significance of organic horticulture, the need for new bioherbicides to control weeds has grown. Potential bioherbicides may be developed from pathogens, natural products, and [...] Read more.
Organic horticulture producers rank weeds as one of their most troublesome, time-consuming, and costly production problems. With the increasing significance of organic horticulture, the need for new bioherbicides to control weeds has grown. Potential bioherbicides may be developed from pathogens, natural products, and extracts of natural materials. Fungal and bacteria pathogens are two important types of microbial agents that have potential to be used as bioherbicides. The byproducts of natural sources such as dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), corn gluten meal (CGM), and mustard seed meals (MSMs) have shown herbicidal activities in controlling many weed species. Some essential oil extracts have shown bioherbicide potential as well. The efficacy of a bioherbicide is the main limiting factor for its application, and it may be affected by environmental factors such as humidity and moisture, the application method, the spectrum of the bioherbicide, and the type of formulation. In addition to efficacy, costs and concerns about potential human health threats are also limitations to bioherbicide use. As the integration of bioherbicide technology into current weed management systems may help manage herbicide resistance, reduce production costs, and increase crop yields, future research should involve the development of more cost-effective and efficient bioherbicides for control of weeds, as well as the optimization of production methods and cultural practices with use of candidate bioherbicides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Horticulture)
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