Sustainable and Alternative Crop Protection Agents: Innovative Technologies, Strategies and Emerging Challenges
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: 20 August 2026 | Viewed by 199
Special Issue Editors
Interests: weed control; herbicidal ionic liquids; weed resistance to herbicides; weed management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: environmental microbiology; microbial degradation and ecotoxicology of organic contaminants (ionic liquids, pharmaceuticals, petroleum hydrocarbons etc.) in aquatic and terrestrial systems; metabolic pathways of (micro)pollutants; interactions between xenobiotics and bacteria in microbial communities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The need for sustainable, efficient, and environmentally responsible crop protection strategies is rapidly increasing in response to global challenges such as pesticide resistance, climate change, regulatory pressure, and the demand for safer agrochemical solutions. Modern agriculture requires innovative approaches that combine high efficacy with environmental safety and compatibility with integrated and sustainable farming systems.
Among emerging solutions, ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted considerable attention due to their tunable physicochemical properties, potential to enhance bioavailability of active ingredients, and reduced volatility. Their application as carriers, solvents, and biologically active compounds represents a promising direction in next-generation plant protection. However, crop protection innovation is not limited to ILs alone and increasingly includes green chemistry-based formulations, advanced delivery systems, biological control strategies, resistance management, and environmentally optimized agrochemical technologies.
This Special Issue aims to present recent advances in sustainable and innovative crop protection, with ionic liquids forming an important, but not exclusive, thematic pillar. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions addressing novel agrochemical formulations, green chemistry approaches, resistance management, integrated weed and pest management, environmental interactions of plant protection products, and emerging technologies supporting resilient agricultural systems.
Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Ionic liquids in plant protection (synthesis, design, applications)
- Green chemistry in agrochemical formulation
- Next-generation herbicides and pesticide technologies
- Advanced delivery systems and controlled release formulations
- Biodegradability, ecotoxicology, and environmental fate of agrochemicals
- Resistance evolution and resistance management in weeds, pests, and pathogens
- Integrated weed, pest, and disease management
- Bio-based and biologically derived crop protection agents
- Soil–plant–agrochemical interactions
- Climate-resilient and sustainable crop protection strategies
- Precision agriculture and smart application technologies
- Regulatory and environmental aspects of innovative plant protection
Dr. Katarzyna Marcinkowska
Dr. Marta Woźniak-Karczewska
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
- ionic liquids
- sustainable crop protection
- pest management
- green chemistry
- agrochemical innovation
- pesticide resistance
- biodegradable formulations
- environmental safety
- integrated pest management
- plant–soil interactions
- precision crop protection
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