Horticulture & Controlled Environments
Fruit, vegetables, vines and ornamentals, greenhouses and postharvest.
Horticulture covers intensively managed crops: fruit trees, berries, grapevines, vegetables, and ornamental plants. Typical research topics include flowering and fruit set, dormancy and chilling requirements, rootstocks, pruning and orchard or vineyard management.
Controlled-environment production - greenhouses, vertical farms, hydroponics and aquaponics - and postharvest science, which studies how quality and shelf life of fresh produce can be preserved after harvest, are major parts of the discipline.
Typical research questions
- How can fruit quality and shelf life be preserved from harvest to consumer?
- How does light spectrum and intensity affect growth in greenhouses and vertical farms?
- How will warmer winters affect chilling requirements and flowering of fruit trees?
- How can water and energy use in controlled-environment production be reduced?
Publications per year
Papers whose main topic belongs to this field, 2010–2025.
Research fronts: fastest-growing topics
Papers 2024–2025 compared with 2021–2022, topics with at least 500 recent papers.
| Topic | 2021–2022 | 2024–2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innovations in Aquaponics and Hydroponics SystemsAquaponics · Sustainability · Hydroponics · Nutrient Recycling | 1,317 | 2,789 | +112% |
| Shallot Cultivation and AnalysisPlant-Microbe Interactions · Organic Fertilizers · Shallot Farming · Phosphate Solubilization | 950 | 1,353 | +42% |
| Flowering Plant Growth and CultivationPlant Growth Regulators · Temperature Control · Flowering Pathway · Carbohydrate Accumulation | 2,089 | 2,963 | +42% |
| Urban Agriculture and SustainabilityUrban Agriculture · Community Gardens · Food Security · Sustainability | 3,093 | 4,023 | +30% |
| Greenhouse Technology and Climate ControlPlant Architecture · Functional–Structural Plant Modelling · Greenhouse Climate Control · Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) | 2,867 | 3,696 | +29% |
| Date Palm Research StudiesAntioxidant Activity · Phenolic Profile · Nutritional Composition · Genome Sequencing | 2,085 | 2,575 | +24% |
Largest topics
By number of papers 2024–2025.
- Plant Physiology and Cultivation StudiesFruit Trees · Dormancy · Chilling Requirement · Rootstock 8,021
- Horticultural and Viticultural ResearchGrapevine · Genetics · Climate Change · Wine Quality 7,424
- Banana Cultivation and ResearchBanana · Genetics · Domestication · Mycosphaerella fijiensis 4,893
- Urban Agriculture and SustainabilityUrban Agriculture · Community Gardens · Food Security · Sustainability 4,023
- Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life ManagementFruit Ripening · Ethylene Biosynthesis · Postharvest Factors · Horticultural Crops 3,895
- Greenhouse Technology and Climate ControlPlant Architecture · Functional–Structural Plant Modelling · Greenhouse Climate Control · Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) 3,696
Highly cited recent papers
Most-cited articles and reviews published 2024–2025. Citation counts favor reviews and papers published early in the window.
- Development of a Low-Cost Banana Fiber Extractor
- Climate change impacts and adaptations of wine production
- The role of light in regulating plant growth, development and sugar metabolism: a review
- Integrating digital technologies in agriculture for climate change adaptation and mitigation: State of the art and future perspectives
- Regulatory Networks Underlying Plant Responses and Adaptation to Cold Stress
- Challenges of postharvest water loss in fruits: Mechanisms, influencing factors, and effective control strategies – A comprehensive review
Study programs in this field
- Plant Sciences Master Wageningen University & Research · Netherlands Taught in English
- Integrative Plant Science (MPS) Master Cornell University · United States Taught in English
- Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Bachelor University of Guelph · Canada Taught in English
- Agronomy and Horticulture Bachelor IPB University · Indonesia