Sustainable Fruit Crop Production: Innovative Orchard Cultivation and Management Technologies

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 March 2026 | Viewed by 918

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Plant Science, Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza 60356-000, CE, Brazil
Interests: plant nutrition; soil fertility; fertilization; compositional nutrient diagnosis (CND); boundary line

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Guest Editor
Department of Agronomy, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Registro 11900-000, SP, Brazil
Interests: tissue nutrient diagnosis; nutrient diagnosis in soil; discriminant analysis; fertilization; compositional nutrient diagnosis; agricultural production
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit growing is one of the agricultural activities that has grown the most globally in recent years, being of great importance in generating employment and income, especially in developing countries. The cultivation of fruit plants plays an important role in environmental aspects, as it allows the occupation of soils considered unsuitable for conventional agricultural activity, thus contributing to a more conservationist system. In recent years, several changes have occurred in the management adopted in production areas, due to the emergence and use of new technologies that seek to increase the productivity of orchards and produce better quality fruit with the least possible environmental impact.

The objective of this Special Edition "Sustainable Fruit Crop Production: Innovative Orchard Cultivation and Management Technologies" is to present results of innovative research recently developed by researchers around the world that contribute to a more sustainable production of fruit trees.

Dr. Antonio João de Lima Neto
Dr. Danilo Eduardo Rozane
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • fertilizers
  • soil fertility
  • plant nutrition
  • critical levels
  • nutritional standards
  • CND

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 1253 KB  
Article
Customized Nutrient Standards to Diagnose Nutrient Imbalance in Fertigated ‘Nanica’ Banana Groves
by Antonio João de Lima Neto, José Aridiano Lima de Deus, Danilo Eduardo Rozane, Márcio Cleber de Medeiros Corrêa, William Natale, Essi Parent and Léon Etienne Parent
Horticulturae 2025, 11(11), 1327; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11111327 - 4 Nov 2025
Viewed by 718
Abstract
Banana (Musa spp.) is an important fruit production in Brazil, but crop productivity is still too low. The ‘Nanica’ cultivar and fertigation have been introduced, but more accurate guidelines are needed to support fertilization decisions at the orchard scale. This study aimed [...] Read more.
Banana (Musa spp.) is an important fruit production in Brazil, but crop productivity is still too low. The ‘Nanica’ cultivar and fertigation have been introduced, but more accurate guidelines are needed to support fertilization decisions at the orchard scale. This study aimed to develop customized nutrient standards for fertigated ‘Nanica’. A commercial ‘Nanica’ orchard provided 129 observations on yield and foliar nutrient concentrations from 2010 to 2017 in eight groves of 3.26 ha each. Plant density averaged 1479 plants ha−1. The diagnostic leaf was analyzed for 13 elements. Concentration values were transformed into centered log ratios (clr), weighted log ratios (wlr), and isometric log ratios (ilr) to account for nutrient interactions and normalize the data. Yield cutoff between low- and high yielders was set at 27 t ha−1 semester−1. The XGBoost classification models relating yield to tissue composition returned an area under curve averaging 0.715 for log ratio expressions. Nutrient standards were expressed as clr, wlr, and raw concentration means and standard deviations of performing specimens. The clr and wlr diagnoses of a low-yielding and imbalanced specimen against a benchmark specimen (Euclidean distance = 2.5) or the performing subpopulation (Mahalanobis distance = 37.6, p < 0.01) indicated Mn shortage and Na excess. Sufficiency concentration ranges may not agree with log ratio diagnoses, especially for Mn. The clr and wlr nutrient standards were site-specific, supporting precision farming. The concept developed in this paper is applicable to endogenous research conducted by stakeholders in orchards worldwide. Full article
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