Biochars Use in Fruit Crops: Soil Health-Mediated Quality Production
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Fruit Production Systems".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 138
Special Issue Editors
Interests: soil fertility; plant nutrition; nutrient diagnosis; nutrient mapping; microbial consortia and rhizosphere engineering; integrated nutrient management; advanced citrus production systems and precision citriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: soil science; soil health; plant nutrition; environmental stresses; rhizosphere biology; environmental stress; physiology
Interests: plant nutrition; soil fertility; regulation of nutrient uptake, allocation, and use efficiency; soil–plant–nutrient interactions; nutrient management strategies; nutrient analysis; innovative fertilizer; agricultural sustainability
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Biochar has received significant research attention, with many studies demonstrating its potential to improve soil quality and crop productivity. However, concerns persist regarding the environmental risks, lack of long-term studies, and inconsistent crop responses, particularly in fruit crops. Fruit crops, due to their perennial woody structure, offer greater potential for carbon sequestration and may benefit more from biochar’s slow nutrient release, stable carbon content, and improvements in soil health. Biochar also supports microbial processes that reduce hydrocarbons and heavy metals in soil. Despite strong support from meta-analyses and reviews showing yield and soil quality improvements with biochar applied alone or with fertilizers and organic amendments, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The complexity of fruit-based agro-systems driven by crop characteristics, soil–climate interactions, management practices, and biochar properties necessitates careful process optimization. This Special Issue is proposed in order to develop evidence-based biochar-mediated production sustainability in fruit crops, covering the following topics:
(1) ameliorative responses of biochars to nutrient pool and soil ecology;
(2) microbial scavenging of heavy metals and hydrocarbons accumulated in soil in response to biochars;
(3) biochars favoring improvements in water transmission and soil aggregation properties;
(4) optimizations in biochar dosage and time of application in relation to crop agronomy and post-harvest life.
Dr. Anoop Kumar Srivastava
Dr. Seyed Majid Mousavi
Dr. Neriman Tuba Barlas
Dr. Songwei Wu
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 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. 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
- biochar as soil ameliorant
- fruit crop productivity
- soil health and fertility
- rhizosphere processes
- carbon sequestration
- soil–plant interactions
- fruit quality improvement
- sustainable orchard management
- soil microbial community
- nutrient-use efficiency
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
