Subtropical Fruits: Sustainable Management, Propagation Techniques and Seedling Production

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics, Genomics, Breeding, and Biotechnology (G2B2)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2026 | Viewed by 1040

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Agriculture, Department of Crop Science, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu 18610-034, SP, Brazil
Interests: crop management; physiology; propagation; cultivar evaluation
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Guest Editor
Department of Agronomy, Universidade Federal de Viçosa (UFV), Viçosa 36570-900, MG, Brazil
Interests: crop management; plant physiology; plant phenology

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Guest Editor
Department of Crop Science, São Paulo State University (UNESP), School of Agriculture, Botucatu 18610-307, SP, Brazil
Interests: crop management; physiology; propagation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cultivation of various subtropical fruit crops around the world boosts the economies of many countries, supplying the domestic market and enabling competitive international trade. The use of physiological principles to guide orchard management will significantly improve productivity and, consequently, fruit quality. Innovation in plant propagation has supported breeding programs and made it possible to produce high-quality seedlings.

This Special Issue, “Subtropical Fruits: Sustainable Management, Propagation Techniques and Seedling Production”, will present innovative studies, tools, approaches and techniques, as well as any other innovation that has improved the economics of seedling production. In addition, papers discussing useful innovations such as cultivar variability, advanced soil use and management, mechanization processes, training systems, cultural practices such as irrigation, fertilization, canopy density, thinning, pesticide application technology, fruit descriptors and harvesting methods and other post-harvest approaches that improve the profitability and sustainability of subtropical fruit crops are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Sarita Leonel
Dr. Jackson Mirellys Azevedo Souza
Prof. Dr. Marcelo de Souza Silva
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Cultural practices
  • environment–physiology–plant interactions
  • soil use and management
  • seeds
  • propagation methods
  • cutting
  • grafting
  • micro-propagation
  • plant growth media
  • growth regulators

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1305 KiB  
Article
Yield and Fruit Quality of Loquat Trees as a Result of Flower Bud Thinning
by Nicholas Taborda Nordi, Luciano Rodrigues Coelho, Sarita Leonel, Marcelo de Souza Silva, Fernando Ferrari Putti, Magali Leonel, Marcos Roberto Furlan and Marco Antonio Tecchio
Horticulturae 2025, 11(3), 270; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11030270 - 3 Mar 2025
Viewed by 748
Abstract
The size and appearance of loquats are crucial for their acceptance in the consumer market. The loquat tree has intense fruiting, which suggests thinning flower buds in order to improve the quality of loquat fruit production. This study was performed in the Paraíba [...] Read more.
The size and appearance of loquats are crucial for their acceptance in the consumer market. The loquat tree has intense fruiting, which suggests thinning flower buds in order to improve the quality of loquat fruit production. This study was performed in the Paraíba Valley region of the state of São Paulo, in the subtropical region of southeastern Brazil to assess intensities of flower thinning at full bloom on the yield and fruit quality of loquat trees. The study was carried out over two consecutive harvest seasons. Trees of the cultivar ‘Precoce de Itaquera’ were used in a randomized block design with five intensities of hand thinning of the flower buds (4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 buds per cluster), with seven replicates. For all treatments, the clusters were bagged as soon as they were thinned. After harvesting, the number of fruit sets, cluster and fruit mass, yield, longitudinal and transverse lengths, number and mass of seeds, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, ripeness index, and pH of the fruit pulp were assessed. An overall improvement was achieved by maintaining four flower buds per cluster. This intensity of thinning provides greater fruit setting on the cluster, as well as larger and sweeter fruit. The highest cluster weight and yield were obtained by maintaining 12 flower buds per cluster. Full article
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