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Water and fertilization management of vegetables: state of art and future challenges

In the coming few years, one of the major challenges for the vegetable industry will be to ensure sufficient production for the increasing world population in a sustainable way, with improved water and nutrient use efficiency. Therefore, vegetable growers and extension specialists should shift from maximizing yield per unit of production area to maximizing productivity per unit of water and/or nutrient used. The present work provides an updated overview of recent scientific studies regarding tools and techniques to determine the amounts and timing of irrigation and of nitrogen fertilizer. Optimizing N fertilization through soil testing approaches, soil solution analyses, N balance calculations, decision support systems, and using plant and crop monitoring approaches are considered. Best management practices are discussed including the application of plant biostimulants, and the use of vegetable grafting. The review concludes by identifying the most promising research lines for improving water and nutrient use efficiency in vegetable crop production.