About this Research Topic
Plastic shed (high tunnel or greenhouse) crop production is the cultivation of mainly horticultural crops under plastic covers (protection) to support an all-year-round fresh product supply, such as vegetables, fruits, or flowers. The crop production in plastic sheds can facilitate the adoption of modern horticultural technology, promote crop yield or quality, feed people’s increasing requirement for diverse and healthy foods, and increase farmer incomes at relatively low cost. Hence, plastic shed crop production has been widely accepted by local farmers and is recommended as an effective measure to increase farmer income in US, Spain, Italy, China or less developed regions, e.g. India or Africa.
The plastic shed production systems are intensive with huge amounts of input of fertilizer, pesticide, and germicide, to counteract the abiotic stresses, such as low light intensity, of the off-season crop growth. It results in low nutrient, e.g. nitrogen use efficiency, greater greenhouse gas (N2O) emission, underground and surface water pollution, and the accumulation of hazardous compounds in either soils or edible portions of crops, such as heavy metals, and microplastics. It is urgently required to understand the underlying mechanism beneath these issues and facilitate the measures to address them.
The scope of this special issue includes but is not limited to:
(1) Identification of the logic and rationality of the reasons for the fast development of plastic shed production;
(2) Providing information on the history, current status and future of the protected crop production, and introduction of new horticultural varieties;
(3) Investigating the measures to improve crop yield and quality and achieve sustainable plastic shed soil management and the underlying mechanisms;
(4) Understanding the logic of how to manage plastic shed soils to mitigate climate changes, such as promoting soil carbon storage or inhibiting greenhouse gas emissions;
(5) Understanding the biogeochemistry of hazardous compounds in soils and how to reduce their accumulation;
(6) New methodology or modelling study related to plastic shed soils
The plastic shed production systems are intensive with huge amounts of input of fertilizer, pesticide, and germicide, to counteract the abiotic stresses, such as low light intensity, of the off-season crop growth. It results in low nutrient, e.g. nitrogen use efficiency, greater greenhouse gas (N2O) emission, underground and surface water pollution, and the accumulation of hazardous compounds in either soils or edible portions of crops, such as heavy metals, and microplastics. It is urgently required to understand the underlying mechanism beneath these issues and facilitate the measures to address them.
The scope of this special issue includes but is not limited to:
(1) Identification of the logic and rationality of the reasons for the fast development of plastic shed production;
(2) Providing information on the history, current status and future of the protected crop production, and introduction of new horticultural varieties;
(3) Investigating the measures to improve crop yield and quality and achieve sustainable plastic shed soil management and the underlying mechanisms;
(4) Understanding the logic of how to manage plastic shed soils to mitigate climate changes, such as promoting soil carbon storage or inhibiting greenhouse gas emissions;
(5) Understanding the biogeochemistry of hazardous compounds in soils and how to reduce their accumulation;
(6) New methodology or modelling study related to plastic shed soils
Keywords: Carbon and nitrogen cycle, healthy diet, soil toxins, soil sustainability, yield and quality
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