Technological and Mechanistic Advances for Sustainable High-Value Fruit Production Systems
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Horticultural and Floricultural Crops".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 148
Special Issue Editor
2. Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
3. Food Innovation Center, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Interests: fruit yield; fruit quality; fruit production systems; plant secondary compounds
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Advancements in technology are revolutionizing fruit production, offering innovative solutions to enhance yield, quality, and sustainability. This Special Issue focuses on high-value fruit crops—such as berries, citrus, apples, and grapes—cultivated in both open-field and controlled environment systems.
Key areas of advancement include agricultural robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), artificial lighting, controlled environment agriculture (CEA), integrated pest management (IPM), novel fertilizer formulations and application methods, plant growth regulators (PGRs), and substrate culture, with emphasis on field- and grower-oriented technologies applicable to organic and agroecological fruit production.
A major scientific challenge currently lies in understanding how these innovations impact fruit crops at the biochemical, physiological, and molecular levels to improve production and management. Emphasis will be placed on mechanistic studies that unravel the biochemical, physiological, and molecular responses of fruit crops to these emerging technologies within agronomic, organic, biodynamic, and agroecological management contexts.
Topics include the application of controlled environment agriculture (CEA), integrated pest management (IPM), novel substrate and nutrient systems, and other innovations that bridge technology with plant function and profitability, while supporting soil health, nutrient-use efficiency, biodiversity, and reduced chemical inputs.
This Special Issue seeks to support the development and validation of technologies in agricultural robotics, AI, artificial lighting, CEA, integrated pest management, advanced fertilization strategies, PGRs, and substrate culture for high-value fruit crops grown in open fields or protected environments, using either natural soils or artificial substrates, and aligned with agronomic sustainability principles central to organic, biodynamic, and agroecological fruit production systems.
By combining technological development with fundamental understanding, this Special Issue aims to promote sustainable, data-driven, and resilient fruit production systems with clear relevance to agronomic practice.
Prof. Dr. Gary Gao
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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 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 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
- artificial intelligence (AI)
- biochemistry
- CEA
- fertilizers
- fruit yield and quality
- IPM
- lighting
- molecular biology
- physiology
- profitability
- robotics
- substrate
- sustainability and yield
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