Maize Germplasm Improvement and Innovation

Dear Colleagues,

Almost all new maize varieties come from a commercial maize breeding program. The majority of parents were derived from a few elite inbred lines, which will lead to homogenization and low genetic diversity, making it difficult to cope with extreme global climate changes. Maize germplasm improvement and innovation refers to the use of elite exotic or domestic resources to enhance and develop new germplasm for maize varieties through traditional breeding, genetic selection, and biotechnological approaches. Based on the above, we initiated a Special Issue in Agronomy on “Maize Germplasm Improvement and Innovation”, which will focus on the following:

1. Maize population improvement, evaluation, and innovation;
2. Study of increasing genetic gain in maize breeding, e.g. increasing plant density;
3. Use of new conventional and modern techniques for maize germplasm improvement and innovation.

The overall aim of this Special Issue is to increase the awareness of maize germplasm improvement and innovation in the maize breeding program.

Dr. Hongjun Yong
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 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.