Qualitative and Quantitative Plant Screening Measurements for Yield and Quality Enhancement

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of changing climatic conditions, plant breeders face the challenge of creating varieties/hybrids that are adaptable, i.e., tolerant to rapidly changing and extreme weather events, as well as biotic stressors during plant vegetation. The final goal is to develop genotypes that can achieve acceptable yields in variable environmental conditions. In a world where human hunger is on the rise, it is crucial to prioritise not only the quantity of plant production used for food or feed, but also the quality of plant products.

Plant breeding programmes necessitate easy and quick tools and methods for selecting stress-tolerant genotypes. One of these tools is non-invasive chlorophyll fluorescence measurement. It is commonly applied to enhance comprehension of the mechanism of photosynthesis and studying the effects of adverse biotic and abiotic conditions on plant development. Although there are numerous studies linking chlorophyll fluorescence measurements and photosynthesis with plant physiology traits in favourable or unfavourable environments, only some of these studies have examined the relationship of photosynthetic traits with agronomic traits, plant product quality traits or yield as the ultimate goal of all crop production. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurement can be beneficial in screening for stress-tolerant genotypes, but this tolerance needs to be quantified in terms of plant yield quantity and quality to ensure the economic effectiveness of breeding programmes. Although chlorophyll fluorescence measurement is the most widely used qualitative method of detecting stress in plants, its limitation is the need for the dark adaptation of plant tissue before measurement. Other qualitative measures, such as thermography and VIS/NIR reflectance, which do not require dark adaptation, can provide continuous monitoring of extensive plant fields, increasing the throughput of data collection. These novel, high-throughput germplasm phenotyping methods are being increasingly investigated, but still need validation for more plant species.

For all the reasons mentioned above, this Special Issue aims to determine the association of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and physiology traits with plant product quality and yield. It also aims to further investigate the use of infrared thermal imaging and VIS/NIR reflectance to increase germplasm screening and data collection efficiency, thus accelerating the selection of adaptable plants with desirable traits. This Special Issue welcomes all research papers exploring the correlation between chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, physiological traits, yield and plant product quality, and those validating infrared thermal imaging and VIS/NIR reflectance for assessing plant conditions in favourable and unfavourable environments.

Dr. Antonela Markulj Kulundžić
Dr. Domagoj Šimić
Guest Editors

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