Nutrient Use Efficiency of Vegetable Crops: The Latest Research

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2024) | Viewed by 1803

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Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, 262 South River Road, Carnarvon, WA 6701, Australia
Interests: vegetable varieties; nutrient management; nutrient use efficiency; sensor-based phenotyping; decision support tools
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The growth and development of vegetable crops largely depend on the nutrient supply either from the soil or from direct application. However, their nutrient use efficiency (NUE) is generally low. To maximize the yield potential and ensure the quality of the vegetables post-harvest while preserving the soil health, it is necessary to keep a balanced fertilizing regime with a high NUE.

In recent years, there has been much research focused on genetic improvement, advanced agronomic practices and growing methods, the choice of fertilizers and biostimulant utilization to enhance the NUE in vegetables. The application of sensor-based methods for monitoring and rapid assessment of the plant nutrient status is also widely used. These decision supporting tools will assist farmers to control the fertilizer inputs, reduce production costs and protect the environment.

This Special Issue is dedicated to the collection of the most recent advances in research and development for NUE improvement of vegetable crops. We also encourage submissions on industry-oriented studies on relevant technologies and management practices that can be immediately applied at a commercial scale.

Dr. Giao Nguyen
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • vegetable varieties
  • nutrient management
  • nutrient use efficiency
  • sensor-based phenotyping
  • decision support tools
  • post-harvest product quality
  • nutrient irrigation interaction
  • hydroponics
  • protected cropping
  • controlled environment
  • soil amendments
  • drip and foliar fertigation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 3292 KiB  
Article
Irrigation Regime Optimization Plays a Critically Important Role in Plastic-Shed Vegetable Production to Mitigate Short-Term and Future N Leaching Pollution
by Xiuchun Xu, Bin Cui, Xuan Yang, Ning Yuan, Ligang Wang, Bang Ni and Fanqiao Meng
Horticulturae 2024, 10(10), 1067; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae10101067 - 5 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1236
Abstract
In northern China, plastic-shed vegetable production significantly contributes to nitrogen (N)-induced groundwater eutrophication due to excessive fertilization and irrigation. However, the impact of optimized farming practices on N leaching has seldom been systematically examined. We conducted a four-season field study to evaluate the [...] Read more.
In northern China, plastic-shed vegetable production significantly contributes to nitrogen (N)-induced groundwater eutrophication due to excessive fertilization and irrigation. However, the impact of optimized farming practices on N leaching has seldom been systematically examined. We conducted a four-season field study to evaluate the impacts of optimal farming measures on tomato yield, water percolation, N concentration in leachate, and total N (TN) leaching. The treatments included conventional fertilization and flood irrigation (CON), fertilization decreased by 20% and flood irrigation (OPT1) or drip fertigation (OPT2), fertilization decreased by 30% and drip fertigation (OPT3), and no fertilization with flood irrigation (CK). Compared with the CON treatment, the optimal treatments significantly reduced annual TN leaching by 9.92–50.7% without affecting tomato yield (57.1–98.2 t ha−1 for CON and 48.1–106 t ha−1 for three optimal treatments). Drip irrigation contributed 73.8–79.0% to the mitigation of TN leaching. The N originating from soil and irrigation water exhibited a similar contribution to TN leaching (45.4–58.6%) to that of fertilizer N. The daily TN leaching at the basal fertilization stage was much greater than that at the top-dressing stage, due to over-fertilization. Optimizing fertilization, particularly basal fertilization, in combination with drip irrigation could substantially reduce N leaching in plastic-shed vegetable production. Other optimal practices, such as decision support systems (DSSs) and fertilizer amendments, could also be investigated to further mitigate the N leaching. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrient Use Efficiency of Vegetable Crops: The Latest Research)
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