Improving Quality of Fruit: 2nd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2026 | Viewed by 1457

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Laboratory of Pomology, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: agriculture; plant nutrition; fertilizers; proteomics; horticulture; fruit quality; fruit science; postharvest physiology; postharvest; postharvest biology; pomology; sweet cherry; metabolomics; transcriptomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Environment, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: horticulture; metabolomics; plant physiology; proteomics; abiotic stress; high-throughput sequencing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Following the tremendous success of the first edition of the Special Issue “Improving Quality of Fruit” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/horticulturae/special_issues/fruitquality_improving), a second edition is being launched.

Fruits are necessary in a balanced diet and are consumed for their vitamins, fibers, and other beneficial compounds. The most appealing characteristics of fruits are their sensory traits such as flavor, texture, aroma, color and, additionally, several bioactive phytochemicals. Therefore, a better understanding of fruit ripening mechanisms is required to improve their quality. Fruits are classified into climacteric and non-climacteric. Climacteric fruits include apples, pears, kiwifruits, peaches, etc. In this type of fruit, a respiration burst during ripening, accelerated by ethylene production, has been observed. Non-climacteric fruits include sweet cherries, strawberries, citrus species, etc. In this class of fruit, respiration remains stable or declines during ripening. For both types of ripening, fruit quality can be affected in various ways during both on-tree development and the postharvest period. The aim of this Special Issue, 'Improving Quality of Fruit', is to explore a variety of agricultural practices, preharvest foliar applications, harvest processes, and postharvest handling and storage factors related to fruit quality. 

Dr. Michail Michailidis
Dr. Georgia Tanou
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • fruit quality
  • fruit metabolites
  • fruit transcriptome
  • fruit proteome
  • fruit sensory features
  • fruit peel
  • foliar applications
  • postharvest application
  • fruit immersion

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

38 pages, 6253 KB  
Article
Does Partial Organic Fertilization Maintain Physiological and Biometric Performance in Apple Trees?
by Susana Ferreira, Marta Gonçalves, Margarida Rodrigues, Francisco Martinho, Verónica Amado, Sidónio Rodrigues, Pedro Bulcão, Jorge Vieira, Mariana Mota and Miguel Leão de Sousa
Horticulturae 2026, 12(2), 192; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12020192 - 3 Feb 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1129
Abstract
The MOPLUS project, funded by the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), aims to enhance soil organic matter, soil structure, and water retention in apple orchards located in the “Maçã de Alcobaça” Protected Geographical Indication area through organic fertilization based on locally available [...] Read more.
The MOPLUS project, funded by the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), aims to enhance soil organic matter, soil structure, and water retention in apple orchards located in the “Maçã de Alcobaça” Protected Geographical Indication area through organic fertilization based on locally available livestock effluents, thereby reducing reliance on synthetic fertilizers under Mediterranean climatic conditions. This study evaluated the physiological and biometric responses of apple trees subjected to four fertilization strategies (M1–M4) in three commercial ‘Gala’ orchards in central Portugal over three growing seasons (2023–2025). Measurements included leaf functional traits, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, spectral indices, vegetative growth, fruit production per tree and mean fruit weight. Interannual climatic variability and orchard-specific conditions were the dominant drivers of tree response, while fertilization effects were smaller and mainly expressed through interactions with year and orchard. When analyzed within the same orchard, fertilization strategies M2 and particularly M3 maintained physiological performance, vegetative growth, and fruit production per tree at levels comparable to full mineral fertilization. Among treatments, M3 showed the most consistent responses across sites and years, indicating that partial mineral substitution with pig slurry can sustain tree functioning while maintaining or enhancing fruit production per tree. The most restrictive strategy (M4) occasionally showed reduced photosynthetic performance under specific orchard–year combinations, suggesting a threshold effect associated with stronger mineral reduction, but without evidence of generalized physiological stress. Overall, these findings demonstrate that partial substitution of mineral fertilizers by organic amendments—especially pig slurry (M3) and, to a lesser extent, composted cattle manure (M2)—is agronomically viable, allowing apple tree performance and productivity to be maintained while enhancing system resilience under Mediterranean climatic variability. These results also provide practical decision support for site-adapted fertilization management in commercial drip-irrigated apple orchards, supporting reduced mineral fertilizer dependence without compromising productivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Improving Quality of Fruit: 2nd Edition)
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