Smart Hydroponics for a Sustainable Agricultural Production
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Precision and Digital Agriculture".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2022) | Viewed by 3629
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sensors; smart systems in agriculture; hydroponics horticulture; machine learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: smart sensors for agriculture; soil and spectral sensors; greenhouse and hydroponic smart control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Nature-based plant production for people was based on soil, which provides plants with mass support and also the living body requirements for air (oxygen), nutrients, and water. However, the offseason needs for fruits and vegetables eventually led to the invention of traditional greenhouses. xPonics is the human effort to cultivate plants securing people’s prosperity, either in the form of soil-ponics and evolving fertigation or as hydroponics (water with air) or aeroponics (air with water). As advanced technology is increasingly becoming more widely available for farming operations, and due to the need for more productivity to improve ROI, greenhouses have evolved toward soilless production. Different forms of this may be suitable for the Green Deal with notably high productivity through hydroponics (substrate, NFT, and many variations) or aeroponics (in different forms). The continued evolution of protected horticulture has recently reinvigorated ideas from the 1990s regarding plant factories to be used toward vertical farming and city farms, also known collectively as indoor farming. Concerns have nevertheless been expressed about vertical farming systems and the sustainability issues linked to them, while some microgreens have been proven to be profitable regardless of the energy eco-footprint. Hydroponics, as used to express all the above mentioned variants, can solve soil degradation and many of the SDG30 goals. For this reason, we expect cutting-edge research or overview articles on topics such as:
- Salinity resilience to a certain extent;
- Water savings and nutrient precision for environmental sustainability;
- Easier control of root nutrient environment and pest disinfection;
- Biostimulants and organic fertilizers used in high-cost soil-organic production;
- Quality enhancements possible with climate, nutrient, and other cropping measures;
- Potential for pest prevention and lowering losses of production and the environment;
- Fostering of productivity for hyperphysical systems.
The potential of hydroponics for a high yield is leading to preferential investments for high-end housing such as closed greenhouses and plant factories. Roof gardens, peri-urban agriculture, and city carnivals are also other forms of hydroponic expression which take into account the social aspects linked to sustainability footprints. These may be of more use in a rapidly urbanized world which demands more variety and a higher volume, as well as the production of more healthy vegetables.
Prof. Dr. Nick Sigrimis
Prof. Dr. Minzan Li
Prof. Dr. Khalid Ali Al-Gaadi
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- hydroponics
- aeroponics
- smart nutrients
- control environment agriculture
- indoor farming
