Greenhouse Plant Production Journal

Abstract Greenhouse agriculture has become a cornerstone of modern horticulture, enabling year-round production, efficient resource use, and resilience to climate variability. Globally, protected cultivation exceeds 500,000 hectares, achieving 15–30% higher yields than open-field systems. However, its sustainability is constrained by dependence on mineral fertilizers and pesticides, which degrade soil health and suppress beneficial microbial diversity. Harnessing the greenhouse microbiome offers a transformative pathway to improve nutrient cycling, enhance plant growth, suppress pathogens, and strengthen tolerance to abiotic stresses. Microbiome-based interventions such as biofertilizers, microbial stimulants, and biochar- or compost-enriched substrates can reduce fertilizer use by 20–40% while maintaining or increasing yield by 10–25%. This review synthesizes advances in microbial biotechnology and omics-based insights into plant–microbe interactions. It further discusses synthetic biology and host-mediated gene editing as tools to design resilient holobionts for controlled-environment systems. Integration with precision agriculture, through AI, sensor networks, and digital twins, enables real-time monitoring and traceability of microbial products. Overall, microbiome-driven greenhouse management can enhance productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and align profitability with sustainability goals, representing a key strategy for climate-smart and circular horticulture.

Abstract Vertical farming is being considered as a viable solution to the significant international issues, such as the decrease in arable land, freshwater shortage, and the necessity to produce food in a consistent and high standard. Despite the wide range of studies carried out on vertical farming systems, the existing reviews tend to consider vertical greenhouses and fully controlled plant factories independently and do not provide an integrated and recent comparison between the two systems. The purpose of this review, thus, is to thoroughly examine the concept of vertical farming by answering the following major questions (i) what are the differences between vertical greenhouses and plant factories in their water and energy consumption? (ii) how productive and land-use beneficial are each system? (iii) what are the technological, economic and environmental barriers to their broader adoption? The review provides the answers to these questions through the synthesis of recent developments, and especially innovations in the areas of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), lighting systems, and integration of renewable energy sources. Vertical greenhouses are considered to be hybrid systems, which blend natural sunlight with additional lighting to increase space-use efficiency, as opposed to plant factories that are appraised as totally regulated systems that can produce highly predictable and uniform yield. The review incorporates the most recent technological, environmental and economic knowledge to give a critical and modern view on the present performance, challenges and future prospects of the vertical farming systems.

Abstract This study evaluated the interactive effects of silicon (Si; 1.5 mM) and salicylic acid (SA; 10 and 15 µM) on cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings under non-saline and saline (80 mM NaCl) conditions using a factorial experimental design. In saline and non-saline condition, significant Si × SA interactions were detected for most growth, physiological, and biochemical traits. Under non-saline conditions, the Si + SA10 interaction increased leaf area, shoot dry mass, and total chlorophyll by 8–17% relative to the control, whereas Si + SA15 showed minimal effects. Under salinity, interaction effects were markedly amplified: compared with the control, Si + SA10 increased leaf area by 40%, shoot dry mass by 57%, total chlorophyll by 44%, carotenoids by 61%, and shoot K⁺ content by 62%, while reducing shoot Na⁺ accumulation by 36%. Oxidative stress markers were strongly suppressed by the interaction, with reductions of 61% in malondialdehyde, 50% in hydrogen peroxide, and 50% in ion leakage. Although antioxidant enzyme activities were not further enhanced by the interaction, Si + SA10 significantly increased non-enzymatic antioxidants, including phenolics (58%), flavonoids (30%), and anthocyanins (49%), and substantially elevated shoot Si accumulation. In contrast, the Si + SA15 interaction produced consistently weaker responses. These findings demonstrate that salt tolerance in cucumber is maximized through a concentration-dependent interaction between silicon and salicylic acid, with low-dose SA synergistically enhancing Si-mediated protection primarily via improved ion balance and non-enzymatic antioxidant defense.

Abstract The objective of this study was to compare the yield and leaf quality of three mulberry cultivars (Kenmochi, Ichinose, and Kanz) under soil-based and hydroponic cultivation systems in the research greenhouse of the University of Guilan. The experiment was arranged as a completely randomized design in factorial (2*3) arrangement. Two cultivation system (soil vs. soilless) and three mulberry cultivar (Kenmochi, Kanz, Ichinose) were evaluated in the present study. Each treatment was replicated four times, with four seedlings per treatment. Data were collected across three harvests and subjected to statistical analysis. Results indicated that the soil-based system was superior in volumetric traits (fresh leaf weight, leaf number, leaf area, and total dry weight). In contrast, the hydroponic system significantly improved leaf quality indices and water use efficiency. The highest nitrogen (10.4%) and protein content (25.63%) were recorded in Kanz under hydroponic cultivation. Ichinose maintained leaf quality under hydroponics without notable yield reduction, whereas Kanz exhibited the highest quantitative performance in soil. Kenmochi provided a balanced combination of leaf quality and growth stability under hydroponics. A key finding revealed that hydroponic cultivation enhanced water use efficiency by 36.7% compared to soil-based cultivation. Overall, hydroponics, combined with appropriate cultivar selection (Kanz for superior nutritional quality and Kenmochi for stability), represents the optimal approach for producing high-quality leaves with improved water efficiency for silkworm feeding. This study offers a practical model for advancing toward smart and sustainable agriculture in the sericulture industry.

Abstract This study was conducted in autumn 2024 in the vegetable research greenhouse of the Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran, to preliminarily evaluate and simulate the performance of a garlic planting machine designed at this university under different garlic clove planting polarities. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design with three main replications and twelve sub-replications. Experimental treatments consisted of four different planting polarity orientations of garlic cloves, including positioning the plumule tip (apical meristem) upward, downward, to the left, and to the right during pot cultivation. The results indicated that planting cloves with the plumule tip oriented upward (UV) significantly increased sprouting percentage and sprouting rate, and resulted in the greatest pseudo-stem height, leaf dry matter content, number of cloves, clove diameter, and leaf relative water content. Moreover, maintaining this planting polarity produced the highest leaf number as well as the greatest fresh and dry root weights. In contrast, treatments in which the plumule tip was oriented downward (DV) exhibited the lowest values for these traits. This study demonstrated that garlic planting with the correct orientation of the plumule or apical meristem upward has a pronounced positive effect on sprouting and growth parameters of garlic plants. These findings can contribute to the optimization of planting methods in both field and greenhouse conditions. Therefore, mechanization through the design of planting machines that enable vertical placement with the meristem oriented upward can accelerate precise garlic clove planting and improve garlic yield and quality.