Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture is facing the challenge of feeding an estimated global population of 9.7 billion people by 2050 without compromising its natural resource base. The rising population along with the diminishing land and water resources have put tremendous pressure on farmers worldwide to meet these increasing food demands. Vegetables play an extremely important role in nutrition and health since they exert protective roles against chronic diseases such as cardiovascular, hypertension, strokes, cancer, diabetes, and blood-related and neurological diseases. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) consultation on diet, nutrition, and prevention of chronic diseases, a minimum daily intake of 400–500 g per day of fruit and vegetable is recommended to prevent chronic, non-communicable diseases, and other micronutrient-related deficiencies.

An intensive agricultural production along with the climate change threat have increased the need for the transition toward more sustainable and resilient farming practices. In this regard, innovative crop management practices that increase crop production and quality through more efficient use of agricultural inputs while reducing nutrient losses, pesticide application, and greenhouse gas emissions are needed.

In this Special Issue entitled “Innovative Crop Management Practices for Maximizing the Production of Vegetables”, we invite researchers and experts to contribute original research, critical reviews, and opinions exploring innovative tools/strategies for improving nutrient use efficiency, technology development for water, fertilization and pest management, innovative greenhouse design and the design of other controlled environment systems, vertical farming, integrated and organic crop management, innovative substrates and soilless production systems (floating, NFT), novel biostimulants, plant-growth-promoting microorganisms and biofortificants, and high-throughput phenotyping approaches and breeding strategies aiming to increase resource use efficiency and abiotic stress tolerance. We also encourage contributions on agronomic practices and techniques such as soil tillage, fertilization, crop rotations, intercropping, irrigation, pruning, nursery management, grafting, and weed control that support sustainable crop production systems and intensification and improve long-term food security. The impact of these agronomic aspects on the quality of the products of vegetable crops will also be considered.

Dr. Georgia Ntatsi
Dr. Leo Sabatino
Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Savvas
Guest Editors

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