Fertilizer Use in Horticulture under Climate Change: Efficiency, Environmental Trade-offs, and System Transitions

Horticultural production systems are increasingly affected by climate-driven changes in temperature, precipitation patterns and the frequency of extreme weather events. These environmental changes influence nutrient cycling processes, fertilizer efficiency and nutrient loss pathways by modifying soil moisture regimes, microbiological status and crop nutrient uptake dynamics. Consequently, nutrient leaching, volatilization and greenhouse gas emissions may intensify, while shifts in crop nutrient demand create additional challenges for maintaining nutrient-use efficiency under changing climatic conditions. Therefore, optimizing fertilizer management is no longer uniquely a matter of improving productivity, but has become a critical component of climate resilience, environmental sustainability and the long-term adaptation of horticultural systems.Essential advances in precision fertilization, controlled-release inputs and integrated nutrient management strategies are recognized. Nevertheless, significant uncertainties remain regarding their agronomic performance and environmental outcomes under variable climatic conditions, diverse soil properties and contrasting horticultural production systems. The effectiveness of these approaches may differ according to temperature and precipitation variability, soil characteristics, crop type and management intensity. These factors limit the approaches broader applicability and long-term predictability under climate change. Concomitantly, major regional disparities in nutrient management persist, with under-fertilization and soil nutrient depletion in resource-limited smallholder systems coexisting alongside excessive fertilizer inputs and associated environmental pressures in intensive production systems. These challenges highlight the need for a more integrated, context-specific and systems-oriented understanding of fertilizer management strategies across diverse horticultural settings.The primary objective of this research topic is to advance a process-based and system-level understanding of fertilizer use in horticulture under changing climatic and management conditions. Although substantial progress has been made in nutrient management technologies and fertilizer optimization strategies, important knowledge gaps remain regarding their long-term agronomic performance, environmental consequences and resilience under increasingly variable climatic conditions. Many fertilizer management approaches continue to be evaluated under limited environmental scenarios. On the other hand, critical uncertainties persist concerning nutrient cycling processes, climate–nutrient interactions and the trade-offs between productivity, environmental sustainability as well as resource-use efficiency across diverse horticultural systems.Rather than broadly addressing fertilizer practices, this collection seeks to identify the conditions, mechanisms and trade-offs that determine the agronomic and environmental performance of nutrient management strategies under changing climatic realities. By promoting evidence generation across contrasting production systems, climatic regions and management contexts, this research topic aims to strengthen the scientific basis for climate-resilient and sustainable nutrient management in horticulture.To address these challenges, contributions are encouraged to provide new experimental, modelling, synthesis and systems-oriented evidence that advances understanding of the following research questions:i) Under which soil, climatic and management conditions do controlled-release and stabilized fertilizers reduce nutrient losses and greenhouse gas emissions without compromising crop productivity?ii) How do climate-driven changes in temperature and precipitation regimes alter nutrient cycling, fertilizer efficiency and leaching dynamics?iii) What is the role of organic amendments and integrated nutrient management in stabilizing soil organic carbon and enhancing long-term soil health?iv) What trade-offs emerge between productivity, environmental outcomes and economic feasibility across contrasting horticultural systems?By integrating experimental, modelling and meta-analytical approaches, this research topic aims to generate actionable and evidence-based insights that support sustainable and climate-resilient nutrient management in horticultural systems. Beyond evaluating individual fertilizer practices, the topic seeks to advance a process-based and systems-oriented understanding of how climate variability, nutrient dynamics, management strategies and environmental outcomes interact across diverse horticultural production systems.This research topic adopts a systems-oriented perspective on fertilizer use in horticulture, with emphasis on intensively managed systems, particularly fruit and vegetable production, where nutrient inefficiencies and environmental pressures are often most pronounced. A central scientific objective is to move beyond isolated assessments of fertilizer performance toward a more integrated understanding of nutrient-use efficiency, climate–nutrient interactions, soil fertility dynamics, environmental loss pathways and system-level trade-offs under changing climatic conditions.Contributions are expected to provide mechanistic insights, comparative assessments, methodological advances, or synthesis-oriented evidence that improves understanding of sustainable nutrient management across contrasting climatic, soil and production contexts. Methodological priorities include field and controlled-environment experiments, modelling approaches, long-term monitoring studies, cross-regional comparisons, meta-analyses and interdisciplinary assessments linking agronomic performance with environmental and sustainability outcomes.Topics of interest include precision nutrient management, controlled-release fertilizers, organic amendments and integrated nutrient management systems, with evaluation of their effects on crop productivity, nutrient-use efficiency, soil health, water quality, greenhouse gas emissions and broader environmental performance. Critical assessments of emerging technologies, including nano-fertilizers, are encouraged, particularly regarding their agronomic effectiveness, environmental implications, scalability and regulatory considerations.The topic strongly encourages comparative studies, cross-regional analyses and synthesis-oriented contributions capable of identifying transferable principles and context-dependent responses across horticultural systems. A concluding synthesis paper will integrate findings across accepted contributions to strengthen a systemic understanding of sustainable fertilizer use and support the transition toward climate-resilient horticultural production systems. Topic editors: Abdulmannan Rouhani, Mohamed Salla, Karim Al Souki Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78828/fertilizer-use-in-horticulture-under-climate-change-efficiency-environmental-trade-offs-and-system-transitions