Precision Irrigation and Water—Nutrient Strategies in Horticultural Systems
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Protected Culture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 1239
Special Issue Editors
Interests: irrigation; agricultural drought; evapotranspiration; crop growth modeling; drainage; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: irrigation and drainage; water quality modeling; GIS and remote sensing; hydraulic analysis and modelling
Interests: irrigation; evapotranspiration; crop water requirements; precision agriculture; remote sensing; soil and water management; climate change adaptation; agricultural meteorology; water use efficiency; sustainable agriculture
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Modern horticultural production increasingly relies on precise water and nutrient management to meet rising productivity demands while preserving natural resources. Precision irrigation strategies supported by technologies such as remote sensing, soil moisture sensing, evapotranspiration modeling, and decision support systems enable producers to optimize water application in both open-field and protected horticultural systems.
Rather than focusing on water management in isolation, this Special Issue places special emphasis on water–nutrient coupling, recognizing that irrigation and nutrient delivery are deeply interconnected processes. Coordinated water–nutrient strategies, such as fertigation and root-zone modeling, are key to improving nutrient uptake efficiency, reducing environmental losses, and sustaining crop performance under variable climatic and soil conditions.
We invite original research, modeling studies, experimental fieldwork, and reviews that address the following topics:
- Advanced irrigation scheduling and system optimization;
- Assessment of water productivity and evapotranspiration in horticultural systems;
- Integrated irrigation and nutrient management strategies (fertigation);
- Effects of water–nutrient interactions on crop yield, quality, and resource efficiency;
- Application of remote sensing, IoT, and digital technologies for soil–plant–atmosphere monitoring;
- Drainage, salinity control, and water quality management under coupled input regimes.
This Special Issue aims to highlight interdisciplinary advances that promote resource-efficient and climate-resilient horticultural production.
Prof. Dr. Ružica Stričević
Prof. Dr. Atila Bezdan
Dr. Aleksa Lipovac
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
- precision irrigation
- fertigation
- water–nutrient interactions
- horticultural crops evapotranspiration modeling
- water use efficiency
- soil moisture dynamics
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