Maize Genetic Diversity and Seed Productivity

Dear Colleagues,

Maize is a crop of strategic importance for humanity; it provides the greatest amount of food for man and fodder for livestock. This very noble species, native to the New World, adapts to practically all agroecosystems on the planet. It is possible to cultivate it from sea level to altitudes greater than 3000 meters, in arid lands or wetlands, in acid or saline soils, with technologies spanning from rudimentary to highly mechanized, thanks to its extraordinary genetic diversity.

The genetic diversity of maize is a highly valuable resource, for which the geographical distribution must be quantified and studied, since it constitutes a toolbox to face unpredictable situations, such as the appearance of new pests and diseases, or abiotic stresses derived from climate change. The genetic diversity of maize can be used immediately for the generation of seeds of higher productivity cultivars, which contribute to solving the problems of food shortages in the face of the notable increase in the human population.

In this context, this Special Issue aims to gather knowledge about the magnitude of the current diversity of maize in different regions of the world using traditional and modern techniques for its assessment, as well as to analyze the experiences on the efficiency of its use through genetic improvement.

Dr. Amalio Santacruz Varela
Dr. Pedro Revilla
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 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.