Agronomy

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Prof. Dr. Isabel Luci Pisa Mata da Conceição

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Centre for Functional Ecology - Science for People & the Planet (CFE), Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: nematology; phytopathology; plant parasitic nematodes; Globodera spp.; Meloidogyne spp.; integrated plant management; bionematicides; plant–nematode interaction
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

More than 4000 species of nematode are plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs), which affect the quality and quantity of many crops. PPNs attack plants and disrupt their development, causing reductions in crop yield and in the quality of the products. Their control is mainly achieved by means of crop rotation and the use of resistant cultivars, combined with synthetic nematicide application. Even though the use of chemical pesticides is an effective control strategy, this is expensive and legislation is very strict regarding their use in the field, focusing mainly on environmental and health risks. The increase in environmental concerns and regulatory restrictions has led to the urgent need to find alternative control measures that have the same efficacy as chemical nematicides. These alternatives need to be less expensive and more environmentally friendly than the methods currently used.

This Special Issue focuses on management methodologies to control nematodes that cause damage to economically important crops and will include interdisciplinary studies including nematology, phytopathology, and pest management studies. Research articles will cover a broad range of fields, such as new technologies to control PPNs in the field and more environmentally and health-friendly management strategies.

Prof. Dr. Isabel Luci Pisa Mata da Conceição
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 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. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

crop production
crop protection
integrated pest management
nematode diseases
pest control
plant-parasitic nematodes

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2239 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Efficiency of Vinasse Application on Root-Knot Nematodes in Soybean

by Maria Lúcia Tiburtino Leite, Fernandes Antonio de Almeida, Wéverson Lima Fonseca, Augusto Matias de Oliveira, Alan Mario Zuffo, Francisco Fernandes Pereira, Francisco de Alcântara Neto, Artur Franco Barreto, Abdulaziz A. Al-Askar, Rezanio Martins Carvalho, Samy A. Marey, Ancélio Ricardo de Oliveira Gondim, Amr H. Hashem, Marcos Renan Lima Leite and Hamada AbdElgawad

Agronomy 2023, 13(11), 2719; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112719 - 28 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1299

Abstract

Vinasse is not only effectively used in pest control but also creates a conducive environment for the growth of antagonistic microorganisms. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the potential of vinasse applied via soil for the management of root-knot nematodes in soybean culture. The experimental design was entirely random, in a factorial scheme (2 × 6), consisting of two species of nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita and M. javanica, under vinasse application at five concentrations (20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%) and one control (water), with five repetitions. Soybean plants Intacta cv. M-Soy 8644 IPRO were inoculated with 4000 eggs/juveniles of each species separately. At 60 days after the first application of vinasse, evaluations of parasitism and agronomic characteristics in soybean were performed. Stillage resulted in the highest average values for root volume and root fresh mass in plants inoculated with M. incognita, showing respective increases of 24.33% and 14.92% compared to plants inoculated with M. javanica. However, concentrations exceeding 60% had a detrimental effect on all agronomic variables of soybean. For parasitism, an interaction among the factors was observed, with a significant effect (p < 0.01) for most of the evaluated variables, except for the number of eggs in the soil. The concentration equivalent to 60% vinasse promoted a sharp reduction in parasitism for the two nematode species, making reproduction on plant roots unfeasible. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nematode Diseases and Their Management in Crop Plants)

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Review

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16 pages, 2490 KiB

Open AccessReview

Predacious Strategies of Nematophagous Fungi as Bio-Control Agents

by Mati Ur Rahman, Peng Chen, Xiuyu Zhang and Ben Fan

Agronomy 2023, 13(11), 2685; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13112685 - 25 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1569

Abstract

Plant-parasitic nematodes significantly threaten agriculture and forestry, causing various diseases. They cause annual losses of up to 178 billion dollars worldwide due to their parasitism. Nematophagous fungi (NF) are valuable in controlling or reducing parasitic nematode diseases by killing nematodes through predatory behavior. This article summarizes the strategic approaches adopted by NF to capture, poison, or consume nematodes for food. NF are classified based on their attacking strategies, including nematode trapping, endoparasitism, toxin production, and egg and female parasitism. Moreover, extracellular enzymes such as serine proteases and chitinases also play an important role in the fungal infection of nematodes by disrupting nematode cuticles, which act as essential virulence factors to target the chemical constituents comprising the nematode cuticle and eggshell. Based on the mentioned approaches, it is crucial to consider the mechanisms employed by NF to control nematodes focused on the use of NF as biocontrol agents. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nematode Diseases and Their Management in Crop Plants)

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