Microbial Inoculants for Biofertilizers and Biopesticides
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Protection, Diseases, Pests and Weeds".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2021) | Viewed by 7804
Special Issue Editor
Interests: microbial formulation development; encapsulation of bioeffectors; slow release coatings; seed treatment; biocontrol; plant growth promotion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Crop protection is essential for ever-intensifying agriculture and a steadily increasing world population. At the same time, increasing human health and environmental concerns (climate change), as well as steeply rising regulatory hurdles and expenses to bring novel active substances to the market, are shifting innovation from synthetic towards biological control and fertilizer agents.
Microbial biopesticides show many advantages beyond their eco-friendly nature. They are generally more specific, as they target one specific pest, are usually unharmful to other species, and their properties can be optimized using a proper formulation strategy. Microbial biocontrol agents have been introduced, but suffer from a limited shelf life, poor and inconsistent efficiency in the field, and strong dependency on environmental factors. Together with digital technologies, such as sensory tools and weather stations, cultural methods and improved formulations and delivery equipment efficacy can be maximized with a minimal input of materials and cost.
On the other hand, microbial inoculants, including nitrogen fixing rhizobacteria or phosphate solubilizing/mobilizing microbes, can positively affect the availability and/or production of plant nutrients and phytohormones, improve their nutrient uptake, and protect the plant from environmental stresses and pathogens.
The aim of this Issue is to show the potential of microbial fertilizers and biocontrol agents using bacteria or fungi for plant growth promotion, disease treatment, or pest control. Manuscripts dealing with the field evaluation of effective microbial strains, formulation development, delivery methods, integrated pest management, and various applications in the area of biofertilizers and biopesticides will be considered.
Dr. Claudia Preininger
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
- bacteria and fungi for plant growth promotion
- microbial biocontrol agents
- spraying applications
- formulation development
- integrated pest management
- microbial fertilizers and biopesticides using digital technologies
