Orchard Intelligent Production: Technology and Equipment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 130

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Interests: precision agriculture; smart orchard; orchard intelligent equipment; precision technology; sensor; robot; informatization management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
Interests: precision agriculture; orchard intelligent equipment; agricultural robot; variable-rate control technology; autonomous navigation technology

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
Interests: precision agriculture; orchard intelligent equipment; variable-rate control technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Orchard production management encompasses a range of operations, including fertilization, mowing, pesticide application, pruning, pollination, thinning, and harvesting. These processes can be significantly enhanced through the application of advanced technologies and equipment, such as information perception, decision support systems, intelligent control, and informatized management. By integrating these innovations, intelligent orchard production management becomes achievable, enabling improvements in fruit quality, reduced production costs, and addressing challenges such as labor shortages. Intelligent orchard production relies on several key technologies, including multi-source information perception, prescription map generation, targeted variable-rate control, and autonomous navigation. Correspondingly, it involves intelligent equipment for tasks such as variable-rate fertilization, localized mowing, precision spraying, three-dimensional pruning, mechanical pollination, flexible blossom and fruitlet thinning, and automated harvesting with grading. This Special Issue aims to collect cutting-edge research papers focused on the core technologies and equipment that enable intelligent orchard production, providing insights into advanced techniques, systems, and equipment that enhance the efficiency, precision, and sustainability of orchard management through intelligence and informatization.

Dr. Changyuan Zhai
Dr. Hanjie Dou
Dr. Shuo Yang
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • smart orchard
  • precision management
  • information perception
  • decision prescription
  • variable-rate control
  • autonomous navigation
  • intelligent equipment
  • robot
  • informatization management

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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