# Horticulture 4.0: Adoption of Industry 4.0 Technologies in
## 5 Discussion and Recommendation  
In this section, based on the discussion of the analysis above, we discuss the recommendations for applications in horticulture as part of future work. A few vital recommendations are as follows:  
* When considering long-term benefits like improved production and automation, the use of the IoT in horticulture is strongly advised and very successful. The Internet of Drones enables horticulture operations to be improved. The Internet of Drones is an architecture intended to focus on providing UAVs, also commonly known as drones, with coordinated connectivity to controlled airspace. Drones for horticulture are used to monitor fields, plant crops, irrigate fields, spray pesticides, and also to assess the health of plants [82; 83]. Moreover, drones with vision-based technology and AI empower the detection of weeds and identify the stages of the growth of plants in pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest. Drones can be used to monitor the quality assessment and grading of horticulture crops to minimize the damage and loss of the product during transportation and storage.
* Robotics leverage AI technology to improve harvest quality and precision. In horticulture settings, robotics with vision technology and AI for the detection of pests, plant diseases, and malnutrition. Before choosing which herbicide to apply in a region, AI can detect and target weeds through the visuals obtained from the camera module inserted into robots. A wide range of issues in the farming sector can be resolved by using an amalgamation of robots and AI approaches [84]. In addition to this, currently, different robots with AI technology are used for weed removal and plucking, sorting, and packaging of fruits [85].
* Globally, horticulture supply chains have an exciting opportunity to improve transactional efficiency, reduce resistance, and promote traceability thanks to blockchain technology [80]. Blockchain technology can help the horticulture and food industry deal with and control known risks while maintaining affordability across the ecosystem. Blockchain in horticulture enables the linking of various horticultural entities for the visualization of data from production to supply on distributed-ledger networks. Granular information on rainfall patterns, water cycles, fertilizer requirements, and more are made available to farmers through big data. This enables them to make wise decisions, such as which plants to sow for greater profitability and when to harvest. Making the proper choices ultimately increase crop output. The fundamental goal of precision horticulture is to guarantee profitability, efficacy, and sustainability [86].
* In horticulture, edge computing is employed for different activities. Edge computing can be utilized to analyze the data at the edge of a network for better monitoring and productivity. Mobile edge computing (MEC) is an architecture that provides cloud-computing services at the edge of networks leveraging mobile base stations [87; 88]. Currently, different study areas have implemented edge-computing-based portable devices in order to predict what is useful for the user in enhancing their practices [89; 90]. In the scenario of horticulture, an edge-computing-based portable device can be developed with IoT and AI for predicting and estimating disease in a crop. Based on the analysis and prediction, it can also communicate to the user on the cloud server and the respective horticulture authorities to suggest a solution in real-time.
* Figure 7 illustrates a hybrid architecture that is implemented in horticulture with the amalgamation of the IoT, cloud computing, AI/ML, blockchain, and big data. This architecture enables a smart and intelligent ecosystem to be achieved in horticulture with multiple features such as blockchain-assisted marketing, prediction of international markets, and the quality of fruits and vegetables based on real-time environmental data. The generated output and sensor data can then be distributed in the peer-to-peer network of any location.