Organic floriculture for sustainable production: Advances in soil health, eco-friendly inputs and crop management

Organic floriculture is gaining importance as a sustainable production system that addresses the environmental concerns associated with conventional flower cultivation, particularly the excessive use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides. These inputs contribute to soil degradation, ecological imbalance and reduced sustainability of ornamental crop production. This review presents recent advancements in sustainable organic practices in floriculture, emphasising the role of organic nutrient sources, biofertilisers, biostimulants, eco-friendly growing substrates and integrated pest and disease management strategies. Studies on organic production systems in major ornamental crops have reported improvements in plant growth, flowering attributes, flower quality, essential oil content and post-harvest performance. An integration of biological inputs, microbial inoculants, botanical-based pest management and environmentally safe cultivation practices offers promising alternatives for reducing chemical dependency. Sustainable resource management approaches, including water conservation techniques, protected cultivation, precision farming and improved post-harvest handling, further enhance the efficiency and resilience of organic floriculture systems. Additionally, organic certification standards, including International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), European Union (EU) organic and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic, promote sustainable floriculture by restricting synthetic chemicals and encouraging environmentally responsible production practices. However, limitations related to nutrient availability, effective pest and disease management, production consistency and certification constraints continue to restrict widespread adoption. Future research should focus on developing efficient organic input formulations, innovative cultivation technologies and region-specific sustainable production models to enhance productivity, sustainability and adoption among farmers. This review highlights the potential of organic floriculture as a viable approach for achieving environmentally sustainable, economically viable and high-quality ornamental crop production.