Strategies to Enhance Nutrient Use Efficiency and Crop Nutrition
A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Production".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2025 | Viewed by 53
Special Issue Editors
Interests: agronomic biofortification; phosphorus use efficiency; nutritional quality of edible crops; toxic elements into the food chain
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: micronutrients; plant growth promoting bacteria; crop physiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: iron; enzymatic activity; micronutrients; stable isotopes; agronomic biofortification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Global agriculture is under mounting pressure to sustainably meet the food demands of a growing population against a background of diminishing natural resources, climate variability, and increasing environmental concerns. A key challenge concerns the inefficient use of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. The loss of these nutrients to the environment contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, water contamination, and soil degradation. Improving nutrient use efficiency (NUE) is therefore a critical objective in crop science and sustainable agriculture.
This Special Issue will compile original and interdisciplinary research focusing on enhancing NUE and optimizing crop nutrition across diverse agricultural systems. We welcome contributions in fields such as soil fertility, plant nutrition, plant physiology, agronomy, biotechnology, and isotopic techniques, particularly those that integrate these disciplines in novel ways.
We encourage submissions that explore physiological, biochemical, molecular, and management-based strategies to improve nutrient uptake, translocation, assimilation, and remobilization. Topics of interest include integrated nutrient management, biofertilizers and bioinputs, nanotechnology applications, and sustainable intensification practices.
Original research articles, review papers, and short communications are all welcome. We especially encourage studies addressing NUE improvement under biotic and abiotic stress and ways of reducing the environmental impacts of fertilization and increasing crop productivity and resilience.
Prof. Dr. Elcio Ferreira Dos Santos
Dr. Flávio Henrique Silveira Rabêlo
Dr. José Lavres Junior
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 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 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–plant interactions
- biostimulants
- isotopic techniques
- nanotechnology in agriculture
- abiotic stress tolerance
- biofortification
- plant–microbe interactions
- sustainable intensification
- micronutrient management
- environmental impact of fertilization
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