Precise ecophysiology can lead to innovative crop management in fruit

The study of plant/environment interactions (ecophysiology) has long been characterized by a variety of experimental methods and is always heavily involved in the uptake of new technologies and instruments, in particular, to move from the laboratory to the orchard as many measurements as possible. Physiological knowledge has led to a number of advancements in the design and management of orchards of many crops. While in the past, many of the advancements in techniques had to be credited to ingenious researchers, particularly versed in electronics, sensor development, computer modeling, more recently, the field of horticulture has become very attractive to technological experts who join forces with the ‘plant guys’ to develop innovative solutions not only to introduce new experimental weapons to the trade, but also to bring to market (i.e., the growers) an increasing number of solutions to help ease the burden of managing crops with the highest possible precision. It is a very promising sight to see the number of robots specifically designed for orchard operations; in turn, they require from plant specialists the development of novel orchard designs (more robot-friendly), which are also turning out to be very efficient and highly productive. Overall, orchards are evolving into multi-functional production units, coupling high quality yields with increasing water savings and, in the near future, eliminating the fossil carbon footprint of the orchard by production of electricity from the top of the orchard.