European Journal of Horticultural Science 

About: European Journal of Horticultural Science is an academic journal published by Eugen Ulmer Verlag. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Biology & Horticulture. It has an ISSN identifier of 1611-4426. Over the lifetime, 418 publications have been published receiving 3784 citations. The journal is also known as: EJHS. European journal of horticultural science.

Application of soilless culture technologies in the modern greenhouse industry – A review

Abstract: Soilless culture systems (SCS) are increasingly adopted as a major technological component in the modern greenhouse industry. The core advantage of soilless culture, frequently referenced to as “hydroponics”, is the independence of the crop from the soil which, as a natural medium, is heterogeneous, accommodates pathogens, tends to degrade in monoculture systems, and may be infertile, saline or sodic. The cultivation on horticultural growing media (GM) such as rockwool, perlite, and coconut is worldwide the most frequently used SCS for production of fruit vegetables and cut flowers. Water culture systems such as floating hydroponics, Nutrient Film Technique and aeroponics are mainly used for production of leafy vegetables. Modern, fully automated fertigation heads are used for the preparation and timely supply of nutrient solution (NS), which serves both the nutrition and irrigation of the plants. In soilless culture, the NS that drains out of the root zone can be easily collected and recycled, thereby considerably increasing the water use efficiency and minimizing environmental impacts arising from fertilizer residues. The spread of pathogens via the recycled effluents is a challenge that can be encountered by introducing a suitable system for their disinfection before reusing, based mainly on UV radiation, slow sand or membrane filtration, or a chemical treatment (mainly O3, H2O2 or chlorination). In SCS, the NS composition has to be adapted to the composition of the water used for its preparation, the plant species and even the cultivar, the growth stage, the season of the year and the current climatic conditions, and this is a challenge that can be encountered by using modern information and computer technologies. Last but not least, the frequency of irrigation in GM-grown crops is high due to the limited volume of rooting medium per plant and has to be efficiently controlled. Suitable automation technologies are mostly based on real-time measurement of parameters related either to the greenhouse microclimate (e.g., solar radiation, vapor pressure deficit, air temperature) or to the GM water status (water tension or content).

Processing Lines and Alternative Preservation Techniques to Pro long the Shelf-life of Minimally Fresh Processed Leafy Vegetables

Abstract: Summary There is still a lack of information about the actual critical points of the industrial fresh-processing chain and on the current and feasible advances in the technologies to successfully preserve the minimally fresh processed (or fresh-cut) vegetable products. It is known that the minimal fresh-processing industry continuously needs to improve their technical support by renewing the processing lines as well as by introducing emerging and alternative preservation techniques, which reduce production losses and provide safer and higher quality products. In this work, an exhaustive review was done to put together information about the most critical points throughout all the stages of the production chain and storage conditions of minimally fresh processed leafy vegetables which determine their final microbial and sensory quality. The first part of the review includes an extensively discussion about the critical points of the production chain of fresh processed leafy vegetables such as cutting and washing. Recent improvements in washing and sanitizing agents such as chlorine, ozone, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine dioxide and antioxidant solutions, and their advantages and disadvantages are evaluated. The second part of this report is focused on the evaluation of feasible emerging preservation techniques such as superatmospheric O2 atmospheres, hot water treatments and UV-C radiation, as alternatives to the conventional ones to improve the final microbial quality and to extend the sensorial quality of minimally fresh processed vegetables.

Applications of precision agriculture in horticultural crops

Abstract: to reduced costs and environmental impact. Because the practise provides record trail, enhanced traceability of farm activities can be obtained that consumers and administration increasingly require (Stafford, 2000; Bellon-Maurel et al., 2014). PA is a cyclic system. The steps can be divided into data collection and localisation, data analysis, management decisions on applications, evaluation of management decisions; and then a new cycle starts. Each year, data are stored in a database and are used as historical data for future decisionmaking (Fountas et al., 2006; Gebbers and Adamchuk, 2010). All this large amount of potentially spatio-temporal data gathered using PA applications is leading to the ‘big data’ concept that will require optimized algorithms to extract the hidden knowledge and relations among variables. Modern PA has a rather short history. Its application started over the last twenty-five years, when global positioning systems (GPS) and yield monitors were made available in field crops. Harvesting was mechanised and sensors were placed on harvesting machines to measure the spatial distribution of yield continuously. Applications started in cereals using impact or γ-ray grain flow sensors. When first yield monitors were developed and yield maps were created, it was shown that yield and soil properties varied highly within the field. This fact marked the development of modern PA (Hedley, 2015). However, applications in fruit and vegetables German Society for Horticultural Science

EU-Rotate_N - a decision support system - to predict environmental and economic consequences of the management of nitrogen fertiliser in crop rotations

Abstract: A model has been developed which assesses the economic and environmental performance of crop rotations, in both conventional and organic cropping, for over 70 arable and horticultural crops, and a wide range of growing conditions in Europe. The model, though originally based on the N_ABLE model, has been completely rewritten and contains new routines to simulate root development, the mineralisation and release of nitrogen (N) from soil organic matter and crop residues, and water dynamics in soil. New routines have been added to estimate the effects of sub-optimal rates of N and spacing on the marketable outputs and gross margins. The model provides a mechanism for generating scenarios to represent a range of differing crop and fertiliser management strategies which can be used to evaluate their effects on yield, gross margin and losses of nitrogen through leaching. Such testing has revealed that nitrogen management can be improved and that there is potential to increase gross margins whilst reducing nitrogen losses.