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Horticulturae
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Advances in Nut Crops: Technology, Growing Systems, Pest Management, and...
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Advances in Nut Crops: Technology, Growing Systems, Pest Management, and Fruit Quality

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 1482

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Aljaž Medič

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: metabolomics; secondary metabolism; biochemistry; food analysis; plant physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nut crops are of increasing economic, nutritional, and environmental importance worldwide. Their cultivation is rapidly expanding, but growers face major challenges related to climate change, emerging pests and diseases, and the need for sustainable production practices. At the same time, technological innovations and new research are opening opportunities to improve orchard management, enhance resilience, and deliver high-quality products to consumers. This Special Issue aims to bring together the latest advances across all aspects of nut crop research and production. Topics will include innovations in orchard technology and mechanization, novel and sustainable growing systems, integrated pest and disease management strategies, and approaches to improving nut and fruit quality. Contributions that address climate adaptation, breeding for resilience, and the use of modern analytical, biotechnological, or digital tools in nut production are particularly welcome. We invite original research articles, reviews, and case studies that provide new insights into the sustainable intensification of nut cultivation. By sharing knowledge across disciplines, this Special Issue seeks to support the future development of nut crops and contribute to resilient, productive, and high-quality nut production systems worldwide.

Dr. Aljaž Medič
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. 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

  • sustainable nut production
  • orchard management
  • pest and disease management
  • nut quality
  • metabolomics
  • precision horticulture
  • climate change adaptation
  • kernel quality
  • breeding for resilience
  • digital tools

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2633 KB  
Article
Very Few Honeybees Carry Cross-Pollen in a Self-Sterile Tree-Crop Orchard
by Akanksha Singla, Helen M. Wallace, Nidhi Chakma, Michael B. Farrar, Shahla Hosseini Bai and Stephen J. Trueman
Horticulturae 2026, 12(6), 648; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12060648 - 22 May 2026
Viewed by 371
Abstract
Fruit production in many crops depends on pollen transfer by animals, and many self-sterile crops rely on long-distance pollen transfer by animals between different genotypes, i.e., between different cultivars. Foragers such as honeybees may need to visit and carry the pollen of more [...] Read more.
Fruit production in many crops depends on pollen transfer by animals, and many self-sterile crops rely on long-distance pollen transfer by animals between different genotypes, i.e., between different cultivars. Foragers such as honeybees may need to visit and carry the pollen of more than one cultivar to be effective pollinators, but we currently have little understanding of how many foragers are carrying more than one cultivar of pollen. We determined the number of cultivars carried by honeybees returning to their hive with pollen at two locations in an orchard of a predominantly self-sterile tree crop, macadamia. The locations were either (i) close to only one macadamia cultivar or (ii) between two macadamia cultivars. We sampled honeybees early in the flowering period, when the floral resource availability was lower, and at peak flowering when the resource availability was higher. We identified the cultivars carried by individual honeybees using a SABER-MassARRAY method that distinguishes cultivar-specific SNPs in pollen DNA. We found that most honeybees carried pollen from only one identified macadamia cultivar, regardless of the hive location and time within the flowering period. Only 15% of the honeybees were carrying pollen from more than one identified macadamia cultivar. This suggests that most honeybee foraging visits to flowers in the orchard were unlikely to have resulted in cross-pollination. Pollenizer trees could be interplanted among the main cultivars in macadamia orchards to increase the number of honeybees carrying cross-pollen and increase their pollination efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nut Crops: Technology, Growing Systems, Pest Management, and Fruit Quality)
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14 pages, 1380 KB  
Article
Temporal Dynamics of Auxins and Strigolactones in the Root Emergence Zone of Chestnut Cuttings During Adventitious Root Formation
by Petra Kunc, Aljaz Medic, Robert Veberic, Mariana Cecilia Grohar and Gregor Osterc
Horticulturae 2026, 12(5), 575; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12050575 - 8 May 2026
Viewed by 809
Abstract
Adventitious root (AR) formation is essential for the vegetative propagation of woody plants, yet recalcitrant species within Castanea spp. exhibit strong genotype-dependent differences in rooting ability. Strigolactones (SLs) and auxins are key phytohormones regulating AR development, but their dynamic interplay remains poorly understood. [...] Read more.
Adventitious root (AR) formation is essential for the vegetative propagation of woody plants, yet recalcitrant species within Castanea spp. exhibit strong genotype-dependent differences in rooting ability. Strigolactones (SLs) and auxins are key phytohormones regulating AR development, but their dynamic interplay remains poorly understood. We analysed three Castanea genotypes with contrasting rooting capacities—two hybrids, Castanea crenata × Castanea sativa (‘Maraval’ and ‘Marsol’), and one native accession, Castanea sativa (‘Kozjak’)—to investigate temporal changes in auxin and SL content following severance. Cuttings were sampled at multiple time points from 0 min to 3 weeks prior to visible root formation, and again at 12 weeks, when rooting outcomes were assessed. Individual tissues were analysed for active auxins, conjugated and oxidised auxin metabolites, and strigolactones. From these data, total auxin content (TAC), total auxin-related compounds (TCC), total strigolactone content (TSC), and the ratios TAC:TCC and TAC:TSC were calculated. Rooting success differed markedly among genotypes: ‘Maraval’ and ‘Marsol’ rooted successfully (75–79%), whereas ‘Kozjak’ failed to produce roots and instead formed extensive callus. Hormonal profiling indicated that rooting competence depends not only on auxin levels but also on the dynamic balance between active auxins, inactive metabolites, and strigolactones. ‘Kozjak’ showed an early predominance of free IAA and elevated SL levels, correlating with inhibited AR initiation, whereas the hybrid genotypes maintained more stable hormonal ratios, which supported successful rooting. These results highlight the importance of coordinated hormonal balance rather than absolute hormone concentrations in regulating AR formation. Our study provides new insights into hormone dynamics underlying rooting recalcitrance in chestnut and suggests potential strategies to improve clonal propagation of woody species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Nut Crops: Technology, Growing Systems, Pest Management, and Fruit Quality)
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