Meeting the challenge of sustainable agriculture: Recent advances in orchard nutrition and protection management

Abstract

The demand for food is expected to increase by up to 70% by 2050 due to the projected population of over 10 billion people. Conventional agricultural methods, which imply the application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, are unlikely to meet this demand. Therefore, there is a need for the intensification of agricultural production. However, the excessive use of synthetic fertilizers and chemically synthesized pesticides can have adverse effects on the environment, soil fertility, crop yields, human health, and food quality. Therefore, harmonizing plant nutrition and protection through sustainable principles in agriculture represents a major goal and challenge for agriculture in the 21st century. Innovative, sustainable, and environmentally safe solutions and bio-rational technologies such as the use of fertilizers and pesticides of biological origin need to be introduced. This paper provides a review of recent achievements in orchard nutrition and protection management by introducing a new product based on liquid biofertilizer. This biofertilizer is derived from vermicompost and enriched with different strains of beneficial microorganisms from Azotobacter, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, and Trichoderma genera, which contribute to increasing productivity, quality characteristics, and economic efficiency of production while simultaneously respecting ecological and health safety standards. The new formula includes a complete technological procedure and has been developed at the Fruit Research Institute, Čačak in the Republic of Serbia.