Innovation in nutrient input and environmental synergy for sustainable protected agriculture

Protected agriculture, often termed Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), represents a rapidly evolving field at the intersection of horticulture, environmental science, and agricultural engineering. CEA is increasingly recognized for its capacity to supply consistent, high-quality horticultural produce regardless of season or external climatic variations, ensuring food and nutritional security on a global scale. Despite these advantages, facility agriculture frequently relies on intensive applications of water and synthetic fertilizers to sustain productivity, raising concerns surrounding suboptimal nutrient use efficiency (NUE), resource wastage, and environmental sustainability. The interactions between environmental parameters—such as light spectrum, temperature, and carbon dioxide concentration—and root-zone nutrition are complex and remain imperfectly understood, underscoring an urgent need for innovative research into optimizing these interactions to balance crop yield, quality, and ecological responsibility.Recent studies in CEA have focused on integrating precision management strategies and novel agronomic inputs within advanced environmental control systems. For example, targeted manipulation of light spectrum and CO2 has demonstrated significant impacts on crop physiology and nutrient assimilation. Similarly, precision fertigation and hydroponic techniques are increasingly used to fine-tune nutrient delivery and reduce waste. However, gaps remain in how best to coordinate these practices holistically, especially when considering crop genetic diversity, physiological responses, and the potential of newer biostimulant or synergist technologies. There also exists a need for interdisciplinary approaches that bridge environmental regulation, input innovation, and crop genetics, aiming to achieve higher yields and improved produce quality with greater resource efficiency.This Research Topic aims to advance our understanding of how integrated management of environmental conditions and innovative nutrient strategies can enhance nutrient use efficiency and productivity in protected agriculture systems. The primary objectives include evaluating the impact and mechanisms of environmental controls on nutrient dynamics, testing advanced fertigation and input methods, and identifying genetic as well as physiological traits that underpin superior NUE in horticultural crops. Special emphasis will be placed on contributions that explore the interactions between environmental management and plant responses, and those that propose scalable, sustainable solutions for facility agriculture.To gather further insights in optimizing nutrient use efficiency and productivity within the defined boundaries of protected or controlled environment agriculture, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:o Impacts of microclimate control (light, temperature, CO2) on nutrient uptake, transport, and assimilation in horticultural cropso Advanced fertigation, water-nutrient coupling, and optimization of hydroponic or soilless systems for improved NUEo Mechanistic studies and field validation of novel fertilizer products, fertilizer synergists/enhancers, and biostimulantso Genetic and physiological screening of crop varieties for nutrient efficiency under protected cultivation conditionso Interactive effects of environmental stimuli and nutrient management on secondary metabolites, flavor, quality, and overall crop productivityWe welcome submissions of original research articles and cutting-edge review papers. Topic editors: Rui Yang, JIE HE, Zheng Wang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/81368/innovation-in-nutrient-input-and-environmental-synergy-for-sustainable-protected-agriculture