Vegetable Crops Breeding for Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Quality Traits
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Genetics, Genomics and Breeding".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (22 June 2022) | Viewed by 26181
Special Issue Editor
Interests: abiotic stress tolerance; crop biotechnology; carotenoid biosynthesis; genetic diversity of underutilized crops
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The impacts of a changing climate are already being experienced around the world, and predictions indicate that the frequency of droughts and episodes of extreme high temperatures will increase. These abiotic stresses are impacting vegetable crop productivity and yield. This, in turn, presents challenges to food supply systems and impacts on water resources for drinking and agriculture. Further to this, elevated CO2 levels are expected to alter the protein content and the nutrient profile of food crops. Vegetable crops can be particularly susceptible to abiotic stresses due to high water demands and sensitivity to unpredictable temperatures and saline soils. Improving existing cultivars and breeding new ones with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance traits is critical to prevent further yield losses and produce crop plants that are well-adapted to a changing climate. Developing this germplasm relies on a large and diverse gene pool of material available for cultivar improvement along with the availability of rapid and phenotyping and trait identification methods. Therefore, it is important to identify significant traits of interest associated with abiotic stress tolerance and increase the depth and breadth of molecular and physiological information available. However, there are several challenges to overcome. Vegetable crops frequently have narrow genetic diversity for abiotic stress tolerance traits due to intense selection for yield and quality traits at optimum growing conditions. Moreover, these stress tolerance characteristics are often complex polygenic traits. Additionally, there is a need for new, affordable, and rapid trait identification and phenotyping methods. This collection of articles will provide new solutions and add to the knowledge base for the development of vegetable crops adapted to abiotic stress.
Dr. Rachael Symonds
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agriculture is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- trait identification
- abiotic stress tolerance traits
- vegetable crop diversity
- vegetable population structure
- vegetable crop improvement and advancement
- crop nutrient and yield status
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.