Mining of Stress-Resistant Genes and Innovative Utilization of Elite Germplasm Resources in Cereal Crops
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Genetics, Genomics and Breeding".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 October 2026 | Viewed by 147
Editor
Interests: genome-assisted breeding; genome editing; germplasm development; plant stress; genotype-by-environment interaction; marker-assisted selection
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cereal crops, such as wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, sorghum, and millet, form an essential part of global food systems, playing a vital role in human sustenance by supporting the livelihoods of millions. With the global human population projected to increase to 9.7 billion by 2050, cereal production must increase by ~3 billion tonnes to meet the demand. Most existing and widely cultivated varieties fail to sustain productivity and farmer profitability under the intensifying climate change associated with biotic and abiotic stress, thereby exacerbating the risk of global food and nutrition crisis. Therefore, continuous efforts are needed to discover, harness, and pyramid genes for stress-resistant genes from wild crop relatives, landraces, elite germplasm, mutants, and other underutilized genetic resources. Such efforts are essential in the breeding of next-generation cereal varieties that combine the high yield potential, broad-spectrum stress tolerance, and desirable end-use values required by growers, consumers, and industries.
This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate recent advances related to the mining of stress-resistant genes and the innovative utilization of germplasm resources for variety development in cereal crops. We consider contributions addressing the identification, functional characterization, and deployment of genes and alleles that confer resistance or tolerance to major biotic and abiotic stresses including drought, heat, salinity, pathogens, and pests through non-conventional, conventional, and biotechnology-based approaches.
Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The exploration of functional stress-resistant genes and alleles from diverse genetic resources.
- High-throughput and precision phenotyping for stress-adaptive traits.
- Pre-breeding and elite germplasm development for stress adaptation.
- Marker-assisted selection and gene pyramiding for stress resistance.
- Genomic-assisted breeding for stress resilience.
- Genomic selection and prediction for stress adaptation.
- Genome editing for stress-resistant traits.
- Descriptions of new germplasm, cultivars, or mapping populations with novel stress resistance or tolerance.
Dr. Jacob Mashilo
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized 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 semimonthly 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
- abiotic stress
- biotic stress
- cereal crops
- CRISPR-cas9
- genetic resources
- genotype
- GWAS
- phenotype
- QTL mapping
- traits
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.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
