Improving the Performance, Resilience and Quality of Horticultural Crops in Controlled Environments

Dear Colleagues,

Horticultural crop production is challenged by projections of global population growth, climate change, and the scarcity of natural resources of water and agricultural land. Technological advances in closed hydroponic growing systems based on recirculating nutrient solutions has maximized productivity per unit area, especially in terms of water and nutrient use efficiency. System technology affects not only plant growth and yield, but also overall crop quality. Demand for high-quality foods is increasing, driven by society’s growing interest in fresh products of high organoleptic, nutritional, and functional quality. It is well known that key secondary metabolites, which form the basis of functional quality in horticultural products, can be modulated by the appropriate management of soilless systems. Exposure to biotic and abiotic stresses underlies the superior nutritional quality often observed in organically grown products, and likewise, soilless systems can facilitate the precise application of positive stress (eustress), such as moderate salinity or nutritional stress, through the precise management of nutrient solution concentration and composition. Hydroponic systems are also effectively tailored to the use of biostimulants or even to be instrumental in the biofortification of edible portions of plants with micronutrients essential to human health. Soilless cultivation can also be used in more sophisticated plant production systems, such as in urban farming including vertical gardens, green roofs and rain gardens, or in modern bioregenerative life support systems (BLSSs) for fresh food production in space colonies or extreme environments. The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality research articles addressing the latest developments in cultivating horticultural crops in soilless systems.

Dr. Antonio Pannico
Guest Editor

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