AgroHighTech – needs and solutions for biodiversity

The idea is based on the access and applicability of different innovative technologies in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) in the context of healthy, biologically valuable crops and products such as functional foods for diverse diets, bioactive compounds, and the prevention of human diseases.
CEA, especially vertical farms/urban indoor agriculture, brings agriculture closer to the consumer, allowing shorter supply chains considering the mass population expansion and the extremes of climate change.
Another aspect is the need for the biodiversity of crops for CEA and possible trends.
Thus, the adaptability and cultivation aspects of wild or underutilized plants and pharmaceutical crops focus on the appropriate management of innovative tools were discussed, such as: 1) an adaptive lighting control approach and accounting for crop physiological responses; 2) the application of nanotechnologies as a new generation of fertilizers, growth regulators or the possible biofortification of vegetables with elements important for human health; and 3) application and utilization of fruit and vegetable by-products for usage as alternative substrates or source for plant-derived exosome-like nanovesicle isolation for pharmaceutical applications.

V All Africa Horticultural Congress – AAHC2024

G. Samuolienė, R. Sutulienė, K. Laužikė, A. Viršilė

underutilized leafy vegetables, pharmaceutical crops, phytochemicals, controlled environment agriculture, artificial lighting, hydroponics, nanoparticles

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2025.1422.25