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Agronomy
Special Issues
Adaptive Agricultural Strategies: Win–Win Solutions for Climate Change Challenges
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Adaptive Agricultural Strategies: Win–Win Solutions for Climate Change Challenges

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Farming Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2026 | Viewed by 3166

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lea Piscitelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies, 70010 Bari, Italy
Interests: soil science; sustainable agriculture
Dr. Lorenzo Negri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, Viale Fanin 44, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Interests: agroecology; cereals; resilient crops; agroecological weed management
Dr. Mohamed Houssemeddine Sellami

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Agricultural and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council (CNR-ISAFOM), Piazzale Enrico Fermi 1, 80055 Portici, Napoli, Italy.
Interests: irrigation; agronomy; alternative crops; legume breeding; protein crops; proximal sensing; abiotic stresses; water management in agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Addressing climate change adaptation is no longer optional but an urgent necessity, requiring the development of innovative and effective strategies to manage existing impacts and prevent their worsening. Agricultural challenges are complex and rarely solved by a single-factor response; instead, they demand the optimization of multiple interacting factors. Consequently, the traditional “one-size-fits-all” approach must give way to integrated actions, decisions, and practices that promote global sustainability. This balance involves enhancing or conserving natural resources while maintaining or improving crop productivity. This Special Issue seeks contributions employing multifactorial approaches to tackle current agricultural challenges, explicitly acknowledging climate change as an unavoidable influence on modern farming systems. Emphasis is placed on studies proposing win– win solutions looking that simultaneously boost crop yields and preserve natural resources, thereby advancing sustainable agricultural practices in the face of climate change.

Dr. Lea Piscitelli
Dr. Lorenzo Negri
Dr. Mohamed Houssemeddine Sellami
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. Agronomy 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 management
  • climate change
  • climatic adaptation strategies
  • crop yield gaps
  • agricultural practices
  • farming system
  • crop management
  • soil fertility
  • resilience

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1893 KB  
Article
Metabolic and Ionomic Responses of Different Crops to Phosphorus Fertilizers Containing Potentially Toxic Elements Under Soil with and Without Liming
by Mariana Rocha de Carvalho, Valdelice Oliveira Lacerda, Aline Aparecida Silva Pereira, Thiago Adorno de Almeida, Gustavo Avelar Zorgdrager Van Opbergen, Paulo Eduardo Ribeiro Marchiori and Luiz Roberto Guimarães Guilherme
Agronomy 2026, 16(8), 830; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16080830 - 18 Apr 2026
Viewed by 500
Abstract
The occurrence and concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in fertilizers are a concern in tropical regions, and soil properties affect their bioavailability for crops. Cadmium is the most easily bioavailable for plants and so the food chain, and it represents a stepping-stone [...] Read more.
The occurrence and concentration of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in fertilizers are a concern in tropical regions, and soil properties affect their bioavailability for crops. Cadmium is the most easily bioavailable for plants and so the food chain, and it represents a stepping-stone toward safe food production. So, this study aimed to evaluate the ionomics, metabolism, and growth of potato, tobacco, and rice in response to liming and to monoammonium phosphates (MAP) from different geographic origins and PTE contents (MAP 1, MAP 2, MAP 3). For this, independent experiments were conducted with each crop using MAP fertilizers as a phosphorus source applied to a Red-Yellow Latosol, with and without liming. Our findings indicated that physiological changes were primarily influenced by liming rather than PTE. Most acidic soils negatively impacted plant growth and sugar content and induced metabolic adjustments related to proline. The higher level of Cd in MAP 3 reduced manganese and zinc and increased sugar in plant shoots. Rice also had a lower Cd bioaccumulation than potato and tobacco, followed by a higher tolerance to acidic soil. The concentrations of As, Cd, and Cr present in fertilizers did not impair the growth and life cycle of the evaluated plants; however, metabolic adjustments were observed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptive Agricultural Strategies: Win–Win Solutions for Climate Change Challenges)
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13 pages, 387 KB  
Article
Influence of Environment on Agronomic and Qualitative Traits: 3 Years of KAMUT® Khorasan Wheat Production
by Sara Bosi, Rocco Enrico Sferrazza, Stefano Benedettelli, Valeria Bregola, Lorenzo Negri and Giovanni Dinelli
Agronomy 2026, 16(6), 633; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16060633 - 17 Mar 2026
Viewed by 670
Abstract
In the present study, 162 samples of KAMUT® khorasan wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. turanicum) harvested in North America during three cropping seasons (2010, 2011, and 2012) were analyzed to highlight direct and indirect associations with the main agrometeorological components via [...] Read more.
In the present study, 162 samples of KAMUT® khorasan wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. turanicum) harvested in North America during three cropping seasons (2010, 2011, and 2012) were analyzed to highlight direct and indirect associations with the main agrometeorological components via path analysis. Agronomic traits (yield), nutritional (test weight, protein, and starch content), and nutraceutical composition (dietary fibre, polyphenol, and flavonoid content) were examined. Path coefficient analysis showed that mean temperature (−0.377) and rainfall (−0.196) had high negative direct effects on yield. Among the qualitative traits, the content of free polyphenols (−0.568) and soluble dietary fibre (+0.393) was highly correlated with mean temperature, respectively, while the content of bound polyphenols was correlated with rainfall (+0.455). In addition, results allowed us to fill the existing knowledge gap, highlighting the direct and indirect effects of agroclimatic variables on yield, nutritional, and nutraceutical traits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptive Agricultural Strategies: Win–Win Solutions for Climate Change Challenges)
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20 pages, 1314 KB  
Article
The Regulatory Role of Biochar in the Fate of Potassium Fertilizer and Potassium Uptake in Soybean Grown in Diverse Soils
by Liqun Xiu, Junqi Zhang, Lidan Wang, Sijia Wu, Yanan Chang, Xu Yang and Kai Guo
Agronomy 2026, 16(2), 267; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16020267 - 22 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 562
Abstract
Biochar is known to enhance soil potassium (K) availability and promote plant K uptake; however, its influence on the transformation pathways of fertilizer potassium and the mechanisms regulating crop potassium accumulation remains insufficiently understood. This study conducted a pot experiment using three soil [...] Read more.
Biochar is known to enhance soil potassium (K) availability and promote plant K uptake; however, its influence on the transformation pathways of fertilizer potassium and the mechanisms regulating crop potassium accumulation remains insufficiently understood. This study conducted a pot experiment using three soil types—Albic, Brown, and Sandy soils—with different biochar application rates (0, 10, and 20 g·kg−1) in combination with potassium fertilizer, to systematically evaluate the regulation of soil K forms, K fertilizer transformation rates, K use efficiency, and K uptake and accumulation in soybeans. The results demonstrated that the combined application of biochar and K fertilizer significantly increased the contents of available, water-soluble, exchangeable, and non-exchangeable K across all three soils. At the highest biochar application rate (20 g·kg−1), available K increased by 15.37%, 16.78%, and 11.77% in the Albic, Sandy, and Brown soils, respectively, compared to the control. Furthermore, biochar altered the transformation pathways of fertilizer K; it consistently reduced the conversion rate of fertilizer K into exchangeable K across all soils, redirecting it toward the water-soluble and non-exchangeable K pools, thus functioning as a potassium “scheduling center”. Adsorption–desorption experiments revealed that biochar exhibits a strong multilayer adsorption capacity for K ions, with most of the adsorbed K not easily desorbed, providing mechanistic support for the observed shift in transformation pathways. In terms of K use efficiency, biochar reduced the K of agronomic efficiency (KAE) due to a “dilution effect” from its inherent K content. Under the high application rate (20 g·kg−1), the KAE decreased by 11.79% in Albic soil, 88.48% in Sandy soil, and 71.73% in Brown soil, while significantly increasing the partial factor productivity of K (PFPK) and apparent recovery efficiency of K (AREK). Ultimately, the co-application of biochar and K fertilizer significantly enhanced total K accumulation and seed yield in soybeans by increasing K concentrations in various plant parts and promoting dry matter accumulation. At the biochar application rate of 20 g·kg−1, the potassium accumulation and soybean yield under biochar treatment reached maximum increases of 70.77% (in Brown soil) and 42.63% (in Albic soil), respectively. This study demonstrates that biochar can synergistically reduce potassium (K) leaching and improve fertilizer use efficiency by regulating K transformation pathways. This provides a practical guideline for utilizing biochar as a dual-function amendment, which acts as both a supplemental K source and a soil conditioner, thereby supporting the development of more sustainable potassium management practices in diverse cropping systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptive Agricultural Strategies: Win–Win Solutions for Climate Change Challenges)
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26 pages, 2377 KB  
Article
Elemental Sulfur and Salicylic Acid Influence Macronutrient Limitation Hierarchies in Drought-Stressed Maize
by Grzegorz Kulczycki, Elżbieta Sacała, Justyna Załuska and Cezary Kabała
Agronomy 2026, 16(2), 145; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16020145 - 6 Jan 2026
Viewed by 487
Abstract
Drought can alter plant nutrient constraints, yet it remains uncertain whether macronutrient limitation hierarchies primarily reflect intrinsic responses or can be reshaped by targeted treatments. In a pot experiment with maize (Zea mays L.), we tested elemental sulfur (ES) and salicylic acid [...] Read more.
Drought can alter plant nutrient constraints, yet it remains uncertain whether macronutrient limitation hierarchies primarily reflect intrinsic responses or can be reshaped by targeted treatments. In a pot experiment with maize (Zea mays L.), we tested elemental sulfur (ES) and salicylic acid (SA) applied either as foliar sprays or soil amendments under two soil water regimes (30% vs. 60% field water capacity, FWC). Six treatments were evaluated (control, ES-foliar, SA-foliar, SA-soil, ES-soil, and ES + SA-soil; n = 72). Regression tree analysis of data indicated sulfur-potassium co-dominance under drought (24.6% importance each; R2 = 0.914), while untreated controls showed nitrogen dominance (27.1%), confirming the S-K pattern is treatment-mediated. Under optimal irrigation (FWC 60%), nutrient importance was balanced across treatments (N, P, K, S; ~22–23%; R2 = 0.991). ES + SA applied to soil produced the greatest drought tolerance, increasing dry biomass by 56% at FWC 30%, whereas ES-soil maintained favorable N/S ratios (9.64–9.86). Redundancy analysis confirmed that water availability explained 63.4% of nutrient variance and revealed significant Treatment × FWC interactions. These findings reveal that nutrient hierarchies can be strategically manipulated through targeted fertilization, representing a nutrient management approach for enhancing drought tolerance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Adaptive Agricultural Strategies: Win–Win Solutions for Climate Change Challenges)
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