Innovations in Protected Cultivation for Sustainable and Resource-Efficient Crop Production

Protected cultivation is a rapidly advancing field supporting reliable, high-quality crop production under increasing climate variability, resource scarcity, and pressure on agricultural land. Greenhouses, net houses, hydroponics, substrate systems, vertical farms, and plant factories can improve productivity and enable precise management of plant growth; however, their environmental and economic sustainability remains uneven. High energy consumption, inefficient water and nutrient use, salinity, root-zone constraints, suboptimal microclimates, and inadequate management of abiotic stresses continue to limit wider adoption. Recent research has demonstrated the benefits of precision fertigation, grafting, biostimulants, beneficial microorganisms, controlled environments, renewable energy, sensing, automation, and data-driven crop management. Nevertheless, knowledge gaps remain regarding the integration of plant physiology, engineering, digital tools, and circular resource-use strategies across diverse crops, production systems, and climatic regions. Further investigation is needed to translate scientific advances into scalable, resilient, and resource-efficient solutions.This Research Topic aims to advance the scientific understanding and practical application of innovations that improve the productivity, quality, resilience, and sustainability of protected crop production. It will address how plant–environment–root-zone interactions can be optimized to enhance water, nutrient, energy, radiation, and land-use efficiency while maintaining or improving yield and nutritional quality. Contributions may investigate physiological mechanisms, crop management practices, technological interventions, or integrated production strategies. The Research Topic will also explore how sensing, modelling, artificial intelligence, automation, and decision-support systems can support adaptive environmental control and resource management. Particular emphasis will be placed on solutions that are economically viable, environmentally responsible, and adaptable to different crops, scales of production, technological conditions, and climate zones.To gather further insights in protected cultivation systems for sustainable, climate-resilient, and resource-efficient crop production, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Plant–environment interactions, crop physiology, and responses to abiotic stress• Greenhouses, polyhouses, net houses, hydroponics, aeroponics, vertical farms, and plant factories• Precision irrigation, fertigation, nutrient-use efficiency, and root-zone management• Salinity management, water quality, nutrient-solution recycling, pH, electrical conductivity, and oxygenation• Vegetable grafting, rootstocks, genotype–environment interactions, and crop architecture• Biostimulants, beneficial microorganisms, and biological approaches to crop resilience• Microclimate control, ventilation, shading, cooling, heating, CO₂ enrichment, and supplemental lighting• Sensors, Internet of Things, machine vision, artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation• Crop and microclimate modelling, digital twins, and decision-support systems• Productivity, functional quality, nutritional value, and resource-use efficiency• Renewable energy, alternative substrates, waste valorization, life-cycle assessment, and circular protected cultivationWe welcome original research, review articles, perspectives, and innovative methodological studies. Topic editors: Pradeep Kumar, Leo Sabatino, Pratapsingh Khapte Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85924/innovations-in-protected-cultivation-for-sustainable-and-resource-efficient-crop-production