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Agriculture
Special Issues
Soil Microbiomes for Enhanced Crop Growth and Sustainability
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Soil Microbiomes for Enhanced Crop Growth and Sustainability

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 727

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Yixiang Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Plant Protection, Yunnan Agriculture University, Kunming, China
Interests: plant-microbe; agrobiodiversity; disease suppression ecology; chemical ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to advance our understanding of how soil microbiomes regulate crop growth, productivity, and quality across diverse agroecosystems. It seeks to uncover the ecological and functional mechanisms through which soil microbial communities enhance plant performance, nutrient cycling, resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses, and long-term soil sustainability. By integrating microbial ecology with crop science, this Special Issue highlights the pivotal role of soil microbiomes in driving sustainable agricultural development and ensuring global food security.

We welcome original research articles and comprehensive reviews that elucidate how soil microbiomes enhance crop growth and productivity while promoting sustainable soil management and long-term agricultural sustainability. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: effects of agricultural intensification on soil microbial communities; microbiome-mediated regulation of crop growth, yield, and quality; soil health, nutrient cycling, and microbial functional traits; interactions among soil microorganisms, plants, and environmental factors; and mechanistic insights into microbiome-driven sustainability.

Studies employing high-throughput sequencing, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metabolomics, and integrative multi-omics approaches are encouraged to link soil microbial communities with crop performance and agroecosystem functioning.

Prof. Dr. Yixiang Liu
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-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

  • soil microbiomes
  • sustainable agriculture
  • crop productivity
  • soil health
  • microbial ecology
  • nutrient cycling
  • agricultural intensification
  • plant–microbe interactions
  • cropping systems
  • agroecosystem sustainability

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

20 pages, 27247 KB  
Article
Density-Driven Root Exudate Remodeling Promotes Pathogen Enrichment and Exacerbates Negative Plant–Soil Feedback in Panax notoginseng Monoculture Systems
by Junxing Zhang, Mingyue Wang, Chaocang Chen, Chen Ye, Shijun Zhong, Linmei Deng, Lifen Luo, Haijiao Liu, Shusheng Zhu and Min Yang
Agriculture 2026, 16(9), 930; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture16090930 - 23 Apr 2026
Viewed by 355
Abstract
Negative plant–soil feedback (NPSF) drives yield decline in monocropping systems, yet how intraspecific competition modulates NPSF across planting densities remains unclear. We conducted a two-stage plant–soil feedback experiment using five crops (Triticum aestivum L., Zea mays L., Solanum lycopersicum L., Cucumis sativus [...] Read more.
Negative plant–soil feedback (NPSF) drives yield decline in monocropping systems, yet how intraspecific competition modulates NPSF across planting densities remains unclear. We conducted a two-stage plant–soil feedback experiment using five crops (Triticum aestivum L., Zea mays L., Solanum lycopersicum L., Cucumis sativus L., and Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F.H. Chen) with contrasting NPSF intensities under four planting densities (30 × 30 to 8 × 8 cm). Crops with stronger NPSF (P. notoginseng) showed pronounced density-dependent biomass reductions, whereas those with moderate (S. lycopersicum, C. sativus) or low (Z. mays, T. aestivum) NPSF were largely density-insensitive. Given its sensitivity, P. notoginseng was used to explore mechanisms. High-density planting (8 × 8 cm) intensified NPSF, reducing seedling survival by 88.54% and biomass by 56.08% compared with low-density controls (30 × 30 cm). Microbiome profiling showed enrichment of pathogenic Fusarium spp. and depletion of beneficial Humicola spp. under high density. Metabolomic analysis identified linoleic acid and oleamide as key root exudates upregulated under high-density stress, which selectively stimulated Fusarium growth as preferred carbon sources. Collectively, these results reveal a density-dependent feedback in which intensified competition reshapes root exudation, promotes pathogen proliferation, and suppresses beneficial taxa, thereby amplifying NPSF. This provides mechanistic insights into microbially mediated NPSF under density stress and highlights the importance of optimizing planting density to sustain crop productivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soil Microbiomes for Enhanced Crop Growth and Sustainability)
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