Enhancing Crop Production: Unveiling the Vital Role of Plant Roots and Their Dynamic Interplay with Soil and the Environment
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant-Crop Biology and Biochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1979
Special Issue Editors
Interests: root phenotyping; molecular biology; genetic diversity; abiotic stress; gene expression
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: morphological characterization; genetic diversity; root phenotyping
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Roots are an important vegetative organ that have the function of supporting the plant, absorbing water and nutrients, synthesizing and storing organic matter, and stablishing interactions with soil. These functions are fundamental for plant growth, stress adaptation, and crop yield. Root system architecture (RSA) is an underexplored trait, but a highly promising trait to better understand the crops’ ecophysiology and abiotic stress tolerances. This Special Issue focuses on providing valuable insights in root system studies that contribute to a more sustainable agriculture, including anatomy, cytology, biochemistry, physiology, modern methods of molecular biology, genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics studies. Also, other important topics need to be explored, such as root’s role in plant nutrition, the interactions between root, symbiosis and agronomic views using field trials and hydroponic experiments, and root development and pattern formation in diverse species. New approaches of root phenotyping, including 2D, 3D, and hyperspectral root imaging techniques, rhizotrons, and next-generation sequencing methods, will be a valuable contribute for this Special Issue.
This Special Issue on ‘Enhancing Crop Production: Unveiling the Vital Role of Plant Roots and Their Dynamic Interplay with Soil and the Environment’ welcomes the submission of original research papers, opinions, reviews, short communications, and methods that focus on root system architecture and functions, plant phenotyping systems, soil structure and fertility, environmental stress adaptation, innovative agriculture practises, root–microbiome interactions, genetic and molecular bases, etc.
Dr. Márcia Carvalho
Prof. Dr. Valdemar Pedrosa Carnide
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 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
- root system architecture
- sustainable agriculture
- root–soil–microbiome
- soil health
- environmental impact
- roots diversity
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