Precision Horticulture—Non-Destructive Measurement, Remote Sensing and Technological Advances

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Protected Culture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 815

Editors


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Guest Editor
Agricultural Department, Meiji University, Kurokawa 2060-1, Aso-ku, Kawasaki 101-0062, Japan
Interests: environmental controle; hydroponics; protected cultivation; horticulture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Graduate School of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, 1866, Kameino, Fujisawa 252-0880, Japan
Interests: agricultural information engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Precision horticulture is emerging as a transformative approach for optimizing crop production and resource use efficiency. This Special Issue will highlight recent advancements in non-destructive measurement techniques, remote sensing technologies, and data-driven solutions for horticultural crops. These innovations enable the accurate monitoring of plant growth, stress detection, yield prediction, and quality assessment, contributing to sustainable and high-efficiency horticultural systems.

We invite researchers to submit original research articles, reviews, and technical notes that address the following topics:

  • Development and application of non-destructive measurement techniques;
  • Remote sensing for crop monitoring and stress detection;
  • AI and machine learning for predictive modeling and decision support;
  • IoT-based real-time environmental monitoring and control;
  • Precision irrigation and fertilization systems;
  • Integration of robotics and sensing technologies for smart greenhouse, orchards and open fields.
  • Expected Contributions:
  • Enhance sustainability and resource efficiency in horticultural production;
  • Reduce labor intensity and improve operational precision;
  • Enable reliable supply of high-quality fruits through data-driven management.

Prof. Dr. Yasunaga Iwasaki
Dr. Hiroki Umeda
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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-anonymized 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 2400 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 horticulture
  • non-destructive measurement
  • remote sensing
  • hyperspectral imaging
  • IoT
  • AI
  • crop stress detection
  • yield prediction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1973 KB  
Article
Canopy Structure and Water Use Efficiency Variations Between Short- and Long-Day Strawberry Cultivars Revealed by Non-Destructive 3D Phenotyping
by Hiroki Umeda, Takahiro Asai, Rick van de Zedde and Silke Hemming
Horticulturae 2026, 12(6), 752; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12060752 - 20 Jun 2026
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Abstract
Cultivars of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) differ in photoperiodic responses, which influence the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth, shaping canopy development, biomass production, and water use efficiency (WUE). Using 3D point-cloud phenotyping, this study compared the canopy structure and WUE [...] Read more.
Cultivars of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) differ in photoperiodic responses, which influence the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth, shaping canopy development, biomass production, and water use efficiency (WUE). Using 3D point-cloud phenotyping, this study compared the canopy structure and WUE of the short-day cultivar ‘Sonata’ and long-day cultivar ‘Favori’ grown under identical greenhouse conditions. Cultivar-specific growth and water use traits were quantified using daily non-destructive 3D point cloud phenotyping combined with continuous whole-plant gravimetry, supported by manual and destructive measurements. Non-destructive estimates of plant height and digital biomass corresponded moderately to measurements (height: R2 = 0.628; biomass: R2 = 0.579; mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) = 13.86%). Growth analysis indicated similar relative growth rates between the two cultivars, whereas the crop growth rate was higher in ‘Sonata’ than in ‘Favori’. Integration of growth estimates with gravimetric records revealed higher period average WUE in ‘Sonata’ (3.1 mg g−1) than in ‘Favori’ (2.5 mg g−1). These results highlight the distinctive growth strategies of a canopy-driven pattern in ‘Sonata’ and a reproduction-driven pattern in ‘Favori’. The combined 3D phenotyping–gravimetry framework provides a high-resolution, non-destructive approach to quantify cultivar-specific growth and water use traits. Full article
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