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Agriculture
Special Issues
Forage Breeding and Cultivation—2nd Edition
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Forage Breeding and Cultivation—2nd Edition

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 1554

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ruicai Long

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: alfalfa; forage breeding; abiotic stress; molecular mechanisms; genome biology; genomic selection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Xiao Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Grassland Science, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: forage breeding; molecular mechanisms; abiotic stress; plant development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hao Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
Interests: alfalfa; Medicago truncatula; molecular breeding; phytohormone; nodules; fall dormancy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Forage is the basis for the production of livestock and poultry, especially herbivorous livestock. Forage contains not only the nutrients necessary for livestock, but also crude fiber, which is particularly important for maintaining ruminant livestock health and cannot be replaced by grain and other feeds. Forage yield has dramatically improved due to the application of new biotechnology and breeding methodologies. However, global meat and milk consumption is rapidly increasing, leading to urgent demand for forage supplies. Therefore, breeding high-yield and stress-tolerant varieties and improving cultivation technologies are crucial for forage yield improvement. Traditional hybrid breeding and domestication are fundamental forage breeding methods. Advanced breeding methods including molecular marker-assisted selection and genomic modification could dramatically shorten the breeding cycle. Efficient fertilization technology and irrigation systems are critical for improvements in forage productivity.

This Special Issue is a continuation of the previous Special Issue, ‘Forage Breeding and Cultivation’. This Special Issue focuses on attempts to breed superior forage varieties and develop efficient cultivation technologies. This Special Issue welcomes studies on forage breeding (including domestication, genomic selection, genomic modification, gene editing, and gene functional mechanisms) and cultivation (including fertilization, nutrient utilization, and irrigation systems). In addition, we encourage inter- and trans-disciplinary studies (e.g., agricultural sciences, breeding sciences, biology, microbiology, and bioinformatics), as well as those incorporating other crop production methods into forage breeding and cultivation. This Special Issue invites authors to submit all types of articles, including original research, opinions, and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Ruicai Long
Dr. Xiao Li
Dr. Hao Sun
Guest Editors

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-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 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

  • forage breeding
  • phenotype
  • genotype
  • genomic selection
  • domestication and improvement
  • fertilization
  • nutrient utilization
  • irrigation systems
  • biological yield

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1716 KB  
Article
Development and Tiller Formation in Wild and Domesticated Accessions of Timothy (Phleum pratense) and Its Relatives P. nodosum and P. alpinum
by Yousef Rahimi, Girma Bedada, Anne-Maj Gustavsson, Pär K. Ingvarsson, Per-Olof Lundquist and Anna Westerbergh
Agriculture 2026, 16(8), 902; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16080902 - 19 Apr 2026
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Abstract
The perennial grass timothy (Phleum pratense) is an important forage crop in cold temperate regions. It forms three types of tillers: vegetative (VEG), generative (GEN), and non-flowering elongated (ELONG). To understand the influence of plant development and tiller formation on biomass [...] Read more.
The perennial grass timothy (Phleum pratense) is an important forage crop in cold temperate regions. It forms three types of tillers: vegetative (VEG), generative (GEN), and non-flowering elongated (ELONG). To understand the influence of plant development and tiller formation on biomass production and the diversity in these traits, a total of 246 wild and domesticated accessions of timothy and the related species, P. nodosum and P. alpinum, were investigated. The length of different plant developmental stages and the formation of different tiller types were studied to test the hypotheses: (1) the proportion (%) of different tiller types affects biomass and is influenced by the lengths of the different plant developmental stages, (2) domestication and breeding have affected the length of developmental stages and proportions of tiller types. While timothy cultivars did not differ significantly from wild accessions in biomass, wild accessions had higher VEG%, which increased with latitude of accession origin. P. nodosum cultivars produced the highest number of ELONG of all accessions and species, and the ELONG% showed a strong positive correlation with biomass. Timothy cultivars showed later emergence and tillering, and reached stem elongation and heading earlier than wild accessions, suggesting that delayed tillering, but an overall faster development, has been favoured during breeding. The time between tillering and stem elongation showed a positive correlation with VEG%. This study reveals large diversity in developmental and tiller traits among accessions, reflecting differences in their domestication and breeding history, and highlighting the importance of considering early developmental traits and ELONG formation for yield and quality in further pre-breeding research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forage Breeding and Cultivation—2nd Edition)
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17 pages, 4617 KB  
Article
Integrated mRNA-miRNA Analysis Reveals the Regulatory Network Under Salt–Alkali Stress in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)
by Mengya Liu, Yanran Xu, Lijun Zhao, Haojie Yu, Lijun Shi, Wenxuan Zhu, Bai Du, Xiao Li and Ruicai Long
Agriculture 2026, 16(3), 323; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16030323 - 28 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 580
Abstract
Soil salinization and alkalinization critically constrain alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) productivity, yet the regulatory mechanisms underlying its responses to salt–alkali stress are not fully understood. In this study, the alfalfa variety “Zhongmu No. 1” was used as experimental material. The seeds were [...] Read more.
Soil salinization and alkalinization critically constrain alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) productivity, yet the regulatory mechanisms underlying its responses to salt–alkali stress are not fully understood. In this study, the alfalfa variety “Zhongmu No. 1” was used as experimental material. The seeds were subjected to salt stress (75 mM NaCl), alkali stress (15 mM NaHCO3), and combined salt–alkali stress (50 mM NaCl + 5 mM NaHCO3) in dishes, with ddH2O serving as the control (CK). After 7 days of germination, the seedlings were transferred to a hydroponic system containing Hoagland nutrient solution supplemented with the corresponding treatments. Following 32 days of stress exposure, leaf and root tissue samples were collected for morphological and physiological measurements, as well as mRNA and miRNA sequencing analyses. Physiological assays revealed significant growth inhibition and increased electrolyte leakage under stress conditions. Transcriptome profiling identified over 5000 common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in both leaves and roots under stress conditions, mainly enriched in pathways related to “iron ion binding”, “flavonoid biosynthesis”, “MAPK signaling”, and “alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism”. MiRNA sequencing detected 453 miRNAs, including 188 novel candidates, with several differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) exhibiting tissue- and stress-specific patterns. Integrated analysis revealed 147, 81, and 140 negatively correlated miRNA–mRNA pairs across three treatment groups, highlighting key regulatory modules in hormone signaling and metabolic pathways. Notably, in the ethylene and abscisic acid signaling pathways, ERF (XLOC_006645) and PP2C (MsG0180000476.01) were found to be regulated by miR5255 and miR172c, respectively, suggesting a post-transcriptional layer of hormonal control. DEM target genes enrichment pathway analyses also identified stress-specific regulation of “Fatty acid degradation”, “Galactose metabolism”, and “Fructose and mannose metabolism”. qRT-PCR validation confirmed the expression trends of selected DEGs and DEMs. Collectively, these findings reveal the complexity of miRNA–mRNA regulatory networks in alfalfa’s response to salt–alkali stress and provide candidate regulators for breeding stress-resilient cultivars. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forage Breeding and Cultivation—2nd Edition)
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