Harnessing Exogenous Applications for Crop Stress Tolerance and Enhanced Productivity
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant-Crop Biology and Biochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 May 2026 | Viewed by 347
Special Issue Editor
Interests: crop science; plant physiology; phytohormones; abiotic stress; climate change and agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Climate change, population growth, and resource limitations pose unprecedented challenges to global agricultural productivity. To address these pressing issues, innovative strategies are urgently needed to enhance crops’ resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses while improving their yield and sustainability. This Special Issue focuses on “Harnessing Exogenous Applications for Crop Stress Tolerance and Enhanced Productivity”, aiming to explore cutting-edge advancements in the use of exogenous substances—such as biostimulants, nanoparticles, plant growth regulators, microbial inoculants, and bioactive compounds—to optimize plant performance under stress conditions.
The scope of this Special Issue encompasses multidisciplinary research that addresses the physiological, biochemical, molecular, and agronomic mechanisms by which exogenous treatments mitigate stress (e.g., drought, salinity, heat, heavy metals, pests, and pathogens) and promote resource-use efficiency. We welcome studies on novel delivery systems, synergistic combinations of treatments, and field-scale validations of exogenous applications. Key topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Stress physiology: The mechanisms by which plants perceive, respond to, and adapt to environmental stressors (e.g., drought, salinity, heat, pathogens), including molecular signaling cascades, metabolic adjustments, and the activation of defense systems to ensure growth and productivity under adverse conditions.
- Biostimulants: Their mechanisms of action, efficacy under varying environmental conditions, and interactions with plant–microbe networks.
- Nanotechnology: Engineered nanomaterials for targeted nutrient delivery, stress sensing, or priming stress-responsive pathways.
- Phytohormones and signaling molecules: Cross-talk between exogenous treatments and endogenous hormonal regulation.
- Microbial inoculants: Role of rhizobacteria, fungi, or consortia in enhancing stress tolerance and nutrient acquisition.
- Omics-driven insights: Transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic approaches to deciphering molecular responses to exogenous interventions.
- Sustainable practices: The integration of exogenous applications with precision agriculture, organic farming, or climate-smart strategies.
We invite the submission of original research articles, reviews, perspectives, and methodological papers that link fundamental discoveries with practical applications. Submissions should emphasize scalability, environmental safety, and socio-economic viability to ensure translational impact. By gathering a diverse range of expertise, this Special Issue aims to catalyze innovation in crop stress management and contribute to resilient, high-yielding agricultural systems for a food-secure future.
Dr. Chao Wu
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
- exogenous applications
- crop stress tolerance
- biostimulants
- nanoparticles
- phytohormones
- abiot-ic stress mitigation
- biotic stress resistance
- drought resilience
- salinity adaptation
- heat stress man-agement
- heavy metal detoxification
- microbial consortia
- omics approaches
- precision agriculture
- sustainable crop management
- nutrient-use efficiency
- molecular priming
- antioxidant defense sys-tems
- climate-smart agriculture
- gene expression regulation
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