The role of research for a sustainable fertilization management in vegetables: future trends and goals

Global vegetable production amounts to 1.13 billion tonnes from about 58 million of hectares; in the last decade global vegetable production increased at an average annual rate of around 3% although significant variability can be found in function of the region and the country. Beyond their monetary value, vegetables are important dietary sources of micronutrients so sustainable fertilization management should be aimed to produce healthy and environmentally sustainable vegetables by taking into considerations peculiarities of the vegetable production. Vegetables represent about 9% of the world market in fertilizer consumption (i.e. about 16 Mt, of which 9.1% of N, 9.4 of P2O5 and 10.0% of K2O). In the twenty-first century the research would be aimed at producing economical yields with reduced fertilizer inputs by the development and implementation of cropping systems, nutrient management approaches and crop varieties both showing higher nutrient/fertilizer use efficiency.