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Agronomy
Special Issues
Agroecological Approaches to Enhancing Productivity and Ecosystem Services
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Agroecological Approaches to Enhancing Productivity and Ecosystem Services

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Agroecology Innovation: Achieving System Resilience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 1281

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marta Monder

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Section of Ornamental Plants, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS), 159 Nowoursynowska Str., 02-776 Warsaw, Poland
Interests: anatomy; biodiversity; biostimulants; budding; cambium; climate change; frost resistance; genetic resources; historical roses; morphology; phenology; rhizogenesis; root cuttings; rootstock; roses
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Cathy Hawes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
James Hutton Institute, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK
Interests: arable ecosystem sustainability; weed and arable plant biodiversity to support ecosystem functions; pollination, predation, litter decomposition; whole-systems methods for risk/impact assessment
Dr. Barbara Marcinek

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Subdepartment of Ornamental Plants and Dendrology, Institute of Horticulture Production, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Głęboka 28, 20-612 Lublin, Poland
Interests: ornamental plants; micropropagation; meteorological factors

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agroecology provides a holistic framework for understanding and managing agricultural systems in ways that enhance both productivity and ecosystem services. By integrating ecological principles into farming practices, agroecological approaches promote resource-use efficiency, biodiversity conservation, soil health improvement, and climate resilience. Current research in agronomy increasingly emphasizes the need to balance food security goals with sustainability by developing management strategies that strengthen ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling, pollination, water regulation, pest suppression, and the broadly understood well-being of organisms forming agrosystems. This Special Issue welcomes contributions that explore innovative agroecological practices, including crop diversification, conservation agriculture, integrated nutrient and pest management, and the use of digital and remote-sensing technologies for agroecosystem monitoring. Interdisciplinary studies bridging agronomy, horticulture, biology, and ecology are also encouraged, particularly those addressing the challenges of sustainable intensification under climate change. By gathering high-quality research and reviews, this Special Issue aims to enable a platform to advance scientific knowledge and practical applications of agroecological approaches that contribute to resilient, productive, and environmentally sound agricultural systems.

Dr. Marta Monder
Dr. Cathy Hawes
Guest Editors

Dr. Barbara Marcinek
Guest Editor Assistant

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 semimonthly 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

  • agroecology
  • carbon farming
  • sustainable intensification
  • biodiversity
  • ecosystem services
  • soil health
  • crop diversification
  • integrated nutrient management
  • deseases and pest management
  • resilience
  • climate change adaptation
  • phenotypic plasticity

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 1598 KB  
Article
Volatile Compounds from Waste Shiitake Fungi Beds Enhance Rice Growth, Yield, and Performance Under High-Temperature Field Conditions
by Clever Nkhokwe Kanga, Rio Umezawa, Setu Rani Saha, Hideyuki Takahashi, Masanori Yamasaki and Kimiko Itoh
Agronomy 2026, 16(9), 892; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16090892 - 28 Apr 2026
Viewed by 436
Abstract
Agricultural waste streams represent an underutilized source of bioactive compounds with potential to enhance crop resilience under climate stress. We previously showed that volatile compounds (VCs) emitted from waste shiitake fungi beds (WSFBs) promote early rice seedling growth under controlled conditions. Here, we [...] Read more.
Agricultural waste streams represent an underutilized source of bioactive compounds with potential to enhance crop resilience under climate stress. We previously showed that volatile compounds (VCs) emitted from waste shiitake fungi beds (WSFBs) promote early rice seedling growth under controlled conditions. Here, we evaluated whether these early-stage effects persist after transplanting and translate into agronomic benefits under field conditions, including the record high temperatures (HTs) of the 2023 growing season in Niigata, Japan. Seedlings of two japonica cultivars, Nipponbare and Koshihikari, were exposed to WSFBs-derived VCs using a non-contact system and subsequently grown in paddy fields across two seasons (2023–2024). WSFBs-VCs-treated (+VCs) plants exhibited enhanced seedling vigor, increased tiller and panicle numbers, higher grain yield per plant, greater 1000-grain weight, and reduced grain chalkiness. Gas exchange measurements at the reproductive stage during the 2023 record HT showed that +VCs plants maintained higher net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration, and transpiration rate, while intrinsic water-use efficiency showed a modest decline consistent with transpirational cooling. Controlled-environment assays revealed enhanced physiological stability supported by upregulation of cytokinin and stress-responsive genes under acute heat stress. Together, these results demonstrate that short-term exposure to WSFBs-derived VCs enhances rice performance under field conditions, including during extreme heat, and highlight their potential as low-cost, waste-derived biostimulants that support sustainable, circular, and climate-resilient rice production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecological Approaches to Enhancing Productivity and Ecosystem Services)
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19 pages, 2852 KB  
Article
Wheat–Pea Intercropping Responds to Nitrogen Fertilization and Maintains Yield Under Agroforestry in Central Italy
by Silvia Pampana, Lorenzo Gabriele Tramacere, Sanaz Afshari-Behbahanizadeh, Àngela Puig-Sirera, Edoardo Monacci, Gabriele Sileoni and Daniele Antichi
Agronomy 2026, 16(7), 727; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16070727 - 31 Mar 2026
Viewed by 505
Abstract
Agriculture must shift to sustainable practices that support mitigation and adaptation, with crop diversification highlighted as a key adaptive practice. A field experiment was conducted in central Italy to study forage and grain production of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and pea ( [...] Read more.
Agriculture must shift to sustainable practices that support mitigation and adaptation, with crop diversification highlighted as a key adaptive practice. A field experiment was conducted in central Italy to study forage and grain production of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) intercropping (IC) comparing three nitrogen fertilizations (NF) (i.e., 0, 70, and 140 kg ha−1) and two cropping systems (CS) (i.e., arable (AR) and silvo-arable (SIAR)) for two consecutive cropping seasons (2023–2024 and 2024–2025). Forage and grain production were determined at flowering and at maturity to identify temporal trends in resource use. Overall, the results demonstrated that poplar presence did not significantly impact IC productivity, as forage biomass at flowering was 5.00 t ha−1 in AR and 4.77 t ha−1 in SIAR in 2024, and 3.20 t ha−1 in both cropping systems in 2025. Moreover, NF was the main driver of both forage and grain production, without significant interaction with the CS, and a moderate N rate (i.e., 70 kg ha−1) was the most efficient, ensuring both wheat and pea productivity. The absence of a yield penalty in the IC in the SIAR supports the agroecological value of integrating annual intercrops with tree components. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agroecological Approaches to Enhancing Productivity and Ecosystem Services)
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