Search Results (830)

Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient for humans, but impaired kidney function requires dietary K restriction, increasing the demand for low-K crops. K is also essential for plants, playing important roles in osmotic regulation and enzyme activation. Most studies on low-K crop production have focused on vegetables, whereas research on fruit trees remains limited. In southern highbush blueberry (SHB), the greatest reported reduction in K content in the fruits is 53%, and the maximum K restriction period is five months. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of long-term K restriction on SHB after 17 and 29 months of treatment. Long-term K restriction reduced K content in the fruits by 72–83%, but also significantly decreased yield and induced severe K deficiency symptoms throughout the canopy. Decreases in K content in both fruits and leaves were accompanied by increases in sodium, calcium, and/or magnesium contents, depending on the organ. K content in the fruits reached approximately 20–30 mg·100 g⁻¹ FW after 17 and 29 months of K restriction. These findings demonstrate that long-term K restriction effectively reduces K content in SHB fruits. However, further studies are required to optimize K management to maintain plant vigor and yield while enabling the production of low-K SHB fruits. Full article

Greenhouses in subtropical and tropical regions must be designed as agricultural engineering systems adapted to local climates, rather than simply replicating the “insulation” models of temperate areas. Under extreme climatic conditions such as persistent high temperatures, intense solar radiation, high humidity, heavy rainfall, and frequent extreme winds, greenhouses transform from enclosed insulation layers into selective climate filters, mitigating crop stress while maintaining close contact with the outdoor environment. This paper summarizes how these climate drivers are reshaping the use, structure, and control concepts of greenhouses, emphasizing that the performance of warm-zone greenhouses depends primarily on heat dissipation, humidity management, and biohazard control, rather than heating and insulation. In this review, we analyze the climatic boundary conditions that define warm-climate conservation cultivation, including long-term overheating risk, high UV radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and suppressed condensation tendency, as well as storm-induced uplift and dynamic loads. These constraints necessitate unique structural forms: tall, lightweight, well-ventilated building types with large roof and side openings, roof geometries that facilitate rainwater runoff, sophisticated drainage systems, and corrosion-resistant materials suitable for humid and coastal environments. Because insect netting significantly reduces ventilation, pest control and temperature regulation become co-design issues, requiring oversized vents, optimized airflow paths, and hybrid roof–mesh structures. Ventilation is considered the primary climate-control mechanism, supplemented by passive cooling measures such as shading and radiation/optical management (e.g., diffuse films and near-infrared-selective films). Active evaporative cooling is considered a conditional measure due to humidity limitations and disease risks. This paper also integrates the impacts on specific crops (fruits and vegetables, leafy greens, and orchids). It highlights emerging trends: typhoon-resistant and adaptive geometries, computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based design, and sensor-rich IoT/digital twin control frameworks. These principles collectively establish a coherent design framework for achieving resilient, resource-efficient greenhouse production in warm climates. Full article

The nutritional and functional quality of eggplants is heavily influenced by biological and technological factors. This study evaluated the effects of cultivar, rootstock, and fertilizers on the nutritional and functional quality of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.). Two commercial hybrids (Mirval and Black Pearl) were assessed with respect to two rootstocks (Solanum sylvatica and Rezistar F1) and three fertilization regimes: biological (Micoseed^®), organic (Orgevit^®), and chemical (Nutrispore^®). These were compared with ungrafted and unfertilized cultivars. Fruit samples were analyzed for total polyphenol content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (ABTS and DPPH assays), chlorophyll a and b, lycopene, and tannin concentrations. Mirval exhibited significantly higher levels of TPC, antioxidant activity, photosynthetic pigments, and lycopene than Black Pearl. Ungrafted plants and those grafted onto S. sylvatica showed superior fruit quality, particularly when combined with organic or chemical fertilization. The highest concentrations of polyphenols (3.61 mg·100 g⁻¹ DW), lycopene (3.18 mg·100 g⁻¹ DW), and total chlorophylls were recorded for Mirval fruits from ungrafted or S. sylvatica-grafted plants under organic or chemical fertilization. These findings indicate that optimizing cultivar–rootstock combinations and fertilization management can significantly enhance the functional quality of eggplant fruits. The findings also support the use of organic fertilization as a sustainable strategy in protected vegetable production systems. Full article

This article presents a systematic, evidence-weighted review of Deep Learning (DL) in farming, with a primary emphasis on the agricultural production stage and on four operational domains: precision crop management, precision livestock farming, soil and water resource management, and autonomous agricultural systems. Following a PRISMA 2020-oriented protocol, 56 primary studies (42 with quantitative results) were retained from an initial pool of 18,731 records. The reviewed literature reports applications in plant disease detection, weed recognition, yield prediction, fruit detection, livestock identification and health monitoring, soil-property estimation, crop-water-stress assessment, and robotic perception. High performance on controlled datasets, however, is frequently reported without external, temporal, or cross-site validation, making practical generalisation difficult to establish: in one widely cited benchmark, disease-classification accuracy fell from above 99% on held-out laboratory images to 31.4% on field-acquired images of the same classes. Persistent weaknesses include the limited availability of public benchmarks, inconsistent validation protocols, limited interpretability, fragmented data governance, and insufficient techno-economic analysis. The review argues that the next stage of agricultural AI should be judged less by isolated benchmark scores and more by field realism, reproducibility, deployment maturity, and practical usefulness. Unlike broad surveys that mainly catalogue architectures and applications, this review interprets the literature according to dataset representativeness, validation protocols, benchmarking transparency, deployment realism, and reproducibility, distinguishing algorithmic performance under controlled conditions from practical readiness for real farming environments. The most promising research directions include self-supervised and multimodal learning, explainable and privacy-preserving AI, edge-aware deployment, and hybrid process-informed models. Full article

This study evaluated the compositional and processing characteristics of 17 rowanberry (Sorbus spp.) genotypes, including sweet cultivars, interspecific hybrids, and a wild rowanberry. Fruit weight, colour parameters, soluble solids content (SSC), and titratable acidity (TA) were determined to assess fruit quality, and the distribution of soluble sugars and organic acids among whole fruit, juice, and pomace fractions was investigated. Significant (p < 0.05) variation was observed among genotypes, with fruit weight ranging from 0.40 g in wild rowanberry to 1.55 g in ‘Alaja Krupnaja’. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the genotypes into two major clusters according to colour characteristics. Based on the SSC/TA ratio, ‘Burka’ and ‘Oranzevaja’ exhibited the most favourable balance between sweetness and acidity. Sorbitol was the predominant soluble carbohydrate and showed pronounced cultivar-dependent variation, ranging from 46.2 mg/g DW in ‘Likernaja’ to 189.0 mg/g DW in ‘Krasnaja’. Malic acid was the dominant organic acid in all fractions, reaching 70.9 mg/g DW in the pomace of ‘Krasnaja’. This study provides the first comprehensive comparison of sugar and organic acid partitioning among fruit, juice, and pomace fractions in a diverse set of rowanberry genotypes, revealing cultivar-specific patterns of carbon allocation relevant to fruit quality, processing, and by-product valorisation. Full article

Labor shortages and the push for higher greenhouse efficiency have accelerated interest in automated harvesting. However, the development of a universal harvesting robot has been constrained by large variations in crop architecture, especially plant height. In this review, a height-based stratification of greenhouse harvesting robots and transferable high-wire crop harvesters is presented, covering ground-level crops (<0.6 m, e.g., strawberry), medium-height crops (0.6–1.5 m, e.g., tomato), and high-wire crops (>1.5 m, e.g., trellised cucumber). For each height layer, key design features, technical progress, prototype performance, and common obstacles—including fruit occlusion, mechanical crop damage, unreliable operation, and high commercial costs—are analyzed. Future efforts should target intelligent perception, soft end-effectors, and height-specific solutions (swarm robotics for ground crops, modular hybrid designs for medium crops, infrastructure co-design for high-wire crops). By using plant height as the primary stratification criterion, a design-oriented framework is provided, distinct from conventional crop-type or mechanism-based categorizations. Full article

The coloring process in cherry fruit affects both fruit quality and the cherry fly (Rhagoletis cerasi). This is critically important for host preferences of major pests such as cherry fly. In this study, a randomized classification method was used to classify five distinct coloration stages of cherry fruit based on pomological characteristics and cherry fly density data. An explainable hybrid model combining Random Forest (RF) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithms has been developed. In this study, fruit samples of the Ziraat 900 variety were collected from four different cherry orchards in Elazığ province during five different coloration stages. Pomological characteristics such as weight, width, length, height, stem length, firmness, seed weight, soluble solids content (SSC), NaOH, and acidity were determined, and adult cherry fly densities were also recorded. In the proposed method, candidate decision rules generated by the RF algorithm were optimized using the ACO algorithm, and the most distinctive rule sets were selected. The results showed that the proposed RF-ACO model achieved a 99.48% accuracy rate and exhibited higher performance than many common machine learning methods. Feature significance analysis revealed that SSC, cherry fly density, NaOH, and acidity were the most effective parameters in the classification process. The model not only provided high accuracy thanks to the explainable IF-THEN rules it generated, but also allowed for expert interpretation of the decision-making process. The findings offer significant contributions to the development of decision support systems for determining cherry ripening periods and controlling the cherry fruit fly. Full article

Rosa roxburghii Tratt is characterized by its abundant flavonoid content. However, the mechanisms underlying MYB-mediated regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis in R. roxburghii remain largely unknown. In this study, we found that flavonoid accumulation was markedly higher in fruits. By WGCNA of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with flavonoid accumulation profiles, we identified RrMYB5 as a key regulatory factor in flavonoid biosynthesis of R. roxburghii. RrMYB5 contained characteristic R2R3 domains and a conserved PA1-type motif YEEYLQALL. It was localized exclusively to the nucleus. The qRT-PCR analysis showed that RrMYB5 was constitutively expressed, with peak expression occurring at the rapid fruit expansion stage. The total soluble flavonoid accumulation in R. roxburghii calli was substantially increased by overexpression of RrMYB5. Further LC–MS-based metabolomic analysis revealed significant enrichment of flavonols and proanthocyanidins in RrMYB5-OE calli. Consistently, the transcript levels of RrLAR (Rr404249) and RrANR (Rr300417) were markedly elevated in RrMYB5-overexpressing calli. Moreover, DAP-seq analysis suggested that RrMYB5 might directly bind the promoters of flavonoid structural genes. Subsequent yeast one-hybrid and dual-luciferase assays confirmed that RrFLS (Rr101307) and RrF3H (Rr306546) were direct downstream targets of RrMYB5. These findings indicated that RrMYB5 promoted the expression of flavonol and flavanol biosynthetic genes through different regulatory routes. Thus, our study elucidates the regulatory role of RrMYB5 in flavonoid biosynthesis and provides a valuable molecular target for improving the quality and utilization of R. roxburghii. Full article

Prunus salicina × P. armeniaca, an interspecific hybrid of Chinese plum and apricot, shows substantial variation in peel and flesh color and quality traits. Ten cultivars were characterized by integrating physicochemical measurements, spectrophotometric assays of phytochemical content and antioxidant capacity, and widely targeted ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) metabolite profiling. Tissue type was the main source of chemical variation. Peel contained higher total phenolic (TPC), flavonoid (TFC), and anthocyanin (TAC) contents and greater 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging capacity, 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical-scavenging capacity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), whereas flesh showed higher relative abundances of sugars, sugar alcohols, organic acids, amino acid derivatives, lipids, nucleotides, and terpenoids. Among 248 annotated metabolites, flavonoids were predominant, and color-related differentially accumulated metabolites were mainly enriched in phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways, particularly in purple–yellow comparisons. Integrating tissue-specific correlations, random forest models, and color-gradient patterns prioritized cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, dihydromyricetin, genistin, and orientin as cross-tissue color-associated metabolites. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside showed the strongest association with coloration and anthocyanin content, whereas 4′-O-glucosylvitexin was strongly connected with phenolic, flavonoid, anthocyanin, and antioxidant traits. Comprehensive nutritional quality index rankings further distinguished cultivar-specific peel and flesh quality profiles. These results provide a tissue-resolved metabolic basis for evaluating and utilizing plum–apricot hybrid germplasm. Full article

Paramarasmius mesosporus is a wild edible mushroom with a strong aroma and high culinary value, capable of growing at temperatures up to 36 °C. However, its domestication system and the genetic basis of its sexual reproduction remain largely unexplored. In this study, fresh fruiting bodies of P. mesosporus were collected from the rhizosphere of Imperata spp. in saline–alkali land in Hebei Province, China. The species was successfully domesticated for the first time, and fruiting bodies were harvested 7–10 days after spawning. A chromosome-level genome of the monokaryotic strain ‘Q2’ was assembled using whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome analysis, and Hi-C technology, with a total size of 46.57 Mb that was anchored onto 11 pseudochromosomes at a mounting rate of 95.18%. The mating-type system was identified as a typical tetrapolar heterothallic type, with the MAT A and MAT B loci located on chromosomes 2 and 10, respectively. The MAT A locus encodes HD1, HD2, MIP, and β-fg, among which tr-HD1 was found to be pseudogenized due to domain truncation. The MAT B locus comprises seven pheromone receptor genes and seven pheromone precursor genes arranged in an interspersed pattern. Based on these genomic features, a preliminary MAPK signaling pathway model was proposed to elucidate the molecular regulation of sexual reproduction. This study achieved the first artificial domestication and cultivation of P. mesosporus. systematically elucidated genomic characteristics and mating-type molecular mechanisms of this species were systematically elucidated, providing a theoretical foundation for hybrid breeding, molecular marker-assisted selection, and genetic improvement. These findings hold significant scientific and applied value for germplasm innovation and industrial development of this rare edible mushroom. Full article

Non-destructive fruit quality assessment is essential for improving consistency, scalability, and objectivity of postharvest decision-making. This study presents a deep learning-assisted acoustic tapping system for classifying pineapple juiciness using recorded tapping signals. A total of 300 Pattavia pineapples were evaluated, producing 3600 audio recordings and 6840 curated tapping-sound samples evenly distributed across three juiciness classes. The proposed workflow integrates mobile-phone-based sound acquisition, tap-event segmentation, acoustic feature extraction, and supervised classification. Three audio representations Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs), YAMNet embeddings, and VGGish embeddings were evaluated with deep learning, conventional machine learning, and ensemble models, including CNN, LSTM with attention, GRU with attention, hybrid CNN–LSTM–attention, random forest, logistic regression, gradient boosting, multilayer perceptron, voting, and stacking classifiers. The results showed that MFCC-based deep learning models provided the most reliable classification performance. The best-performing CNN achieved an accuracy of 0.9415, F1-score of 0.9411, Cohen’s kappa of 0.9123, and AUC of 0.9923. Additional analyses using confusion matrices, ROC curves, McNemar’s tests, bootstrap confidence intervals, and t-SNE visualization confirmed the robustness and discriminative capability of the proposed approach. These findings demonstrate that acoustic tapping combined with deep learning offers a practical, low-cost, and non-destructive method for pineapple juiciness classification, with potential application in postharvest sorting, quality control, and precision agriculture. Full article

Crops cultivated on trellis systems, such as kiwifruit, grapes, et al., create a partially structured workspace; this environment is highly suitable for Cartesian robotic harvesting. However, limited extension range of current Cartesian manipulators necessitates a large vertical space, which directly conflicts with the height constraints of trellis canopies. This paper presented a hollow telescopic Cartesian manipulator with a belt-driven cascaded differential transmission for single-degree-of-freedom kiwifruit operations. The two-stage nested carbon fiber structure offers an extension ratio of 1.83:1 and a 549 mm retracted length, requiring 45.36% less vertical space than its single-stage architecture. The hybrid model–vision error compensation (HMVEC) strategy is proposed to address nonlinear positioning errors inherent in the cantilever telescopic configuration. It combines a polynomial–Fourier kinematic model for feedforward correction with YOLO11n AprilTag detection. The results showed the HMVEC strategy reduced the positioning root mean square error (RMSE) by 42.28% (from 7.90 mm to 4.56 mm). The designed manipulator achieved a 95% kiwifruit-transfer success rate at a mean cycle time of 4.8 s per fruit. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed structural design and HMVEC strategy for precise manipulator positioning and post-detachment fruit transfer. Full article

Knowledge of pollen viability, pollen longevity, and stigma receptivity in Zephyranthes remains limited despite their importance for successful hybridization. Therefore, this study evaluated these reproductive traits in four Zephyranthes species (Z. traubii, Z. candida, Z. grandiflora, and Z. citrina) and one cultivar, ‘Pim Chomphu’, to provide baseline reproductive information for controlled pollination. Pollen viability was evaluated using tetrazolium staining at different collection times and storage conditions, whereas stigma receptivity was assessed using 6% hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), with reproductive outcomes following controlled self-pollination evaluated at the corresponding time points. Tetrazolium-based pollen viability exhibited taxon-specific temporal patterns; however, viability was generally high at 11:00, corresponding to 1 day after anthesis (1 DAA) in Z. traubii and the day of anthesis (0 DAA) in the remaining taxa. The combined protocol of desiccation followed by storage at −5 °C or −20 °C maintained tetrazolium-based pollen viability for up to 120 days. Although all taxa showed positive H₂O₂-based stigma responses across the evaluated time points, reproductive outcomes following self-pollination differed markedly among taxa. Z. citrina set fruit at all pollination times, whereas Z. candida failed to set fruit. The remaining taxa showed variable fruit set and seed germination depending on pollination timing. These results indicate that positive H₂O₂-based stigma responses should be interpreted as biochemical indicators of potential stigma receptivity and considered together with subsequent reproductive outcomes. These findings provide baseline reproductive information to support pollen management and controlled pollination in Zephyranthes. Full article

Understanding the genetic control of earliness-related traits is essential for developing early maturing cucumber varieties and hybrids. The present investigation was undertaken to elucidate the nature of gene action governing the node at which the first female flower appears (NFFF) and days to first fruit picking (DFFP) using generation mean analysis in two reciprocal crosses, PBRK-11 × Punjab Naveen and Punjab Naveen × PBRK-11. Six basic generations, namely P₁, P₂, F₁, F₂, BC₁P₁ and BC₁P₂, were evaluated for both traits. The results revealed sufficient genetic variability among the generations for both traits. For NFFF, additive gene action was predominant in the cross PBRK-11 × Punjab Naveen, whereas its reciprocal cross Punjab Naveen × PBRK-11 exhibited significant dominance effects along with duplicate type of epistasis, indicating the influence of non-additive gene action. The contrasting behaviour of the reciprocal crosses suggested a possible reciprocal cross effect for NFFF; however, this effect cannot be attributed to maternal or cytoplasmic inheritance without further validation. In contrast, the DFFP trait was mainly governed by dominance gene action with duplicate type of epistatic interactions in both reciprocal crosses, indicating no clear reciprocal difference for this trait. The estimates of dominance ratio indicated partial to complete dominance for NFFF and over-dominance for DFFP. Significant negative heterosis for DFFP over better-parent indicated the superiority of hybrids for early fruit development, whereas contrasting heterotic responses for NFFF suggested limited direct exploitation of heterosis for NFFF. The predominance of non-additive gene effects and duplicate epistasis indicates that selection for earliness would be more effective in later segregating generations. Overall, the findings indicate that hybridization followed by selection in advanced generations would be an effective breeding strategy for developing early maturing cucumber varieties. Full article

Cyclodextrin (CD)-based supramolecular nanofibers (NFs) have emerged as an advanced class of multifunctional materials for active food packaging by integrating host–guest supramolecular chemistry with electrospun nanofibrous architectures. The unique hydrophobic cavity and hydrophilic exterior of CDs enable the encapsulation of a wide range of bioactive compounds, including essential oils, natural antioxidants, antimicrobials, and volatile active agents, thereby enhancing their solubility, stability, controlled release, and preservation efficacy. This review comprehensively discusses the molecular structure and inclusion complexation mechanisms of CDs, recent advances in polymer-assisted and polymer-free electrospinning strategies, and the design of CD-based supramolecular nanofibers for food preservation. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between fiber morphology, supramolecular interactions, and controlled release behavior, which collectively govern antimicrobial, antioxidant, moisture management, and barrier properties. Recent developments involving biodegradable polymers, hybrid nanofibrous systems, and cyclodextrin-based metal–organic frameworks (CD-MOFs) are critically summarized, highlighting their roles in improving encapsulation efficiency, mechanical stability, and multifunctional performance. The review further compares CD-based nanofibers with other advanced encapsulation technologies, including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, nanoemulsions, polymeric nanoparticles, microspheres, and conventional MOFs, providing a comprehensive evaluation of their loading capacity, release kinetics, scalability, cost, and regulatory suitability for food-contact applications. Representative applications in the preservation of fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, dairy products, and bakery products demonstrate significant improvements in microbial inhibition, oxidation resistance, ethylene and volatile organic compound adsorption, and shelf-life extension through sustained delivery of natural preservatives. Ultimately, the current challenges, including large-scale manufacturing, long-term stability, regulatory approval, and commercialization, are discussed together with future directions, focusing on smart packaging, stimuli-responsive delivery systems, intelligent sensing, biodegradable multifunctional materials, and sustainable industrial implementation. Full article