Domestication and Genetic Improvement of New Crops
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2026 | Viewed by 23
Special Issue Editors
Interests: perennial crop domestication; tradeoffs between yield and longevity/survival
Interests: new crop development; ecosystem services
2. CONICET, Museo Egidio Feruglio, Fontana 140, Trelew, Chubut, Argentina
Interests: N economy of perennial crops; roots studies
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Agriculture is under strong pressure to produce food and raw materials in sustainable ways. De novo domestication may attend to economic and environmental requirements (i.e., water quality, wildlife habitat, soil quality, carbon sequestration, etc.) simultaneously.
The candidates must provide raw materials while possessing structural and functional traits correlated to sustainability, such as deep roots, stress tolerance, and perenniality. However, since yield is the driving force of domestication, other traits providing ecosystem services are neglected and may be lost as selection proceeds. Still, there is growing evidence that the harvest index can be enhanced without compromising processes relevant to maintaining the provision of ecosystem services.
Contributions to this Special Issue will consider case studies of successful alternative crop candidates, including breeding for traits associated with crop sustainability and ecosystem services, links between genetic improvement and plant eco-physiology, and reviews of the criteria and process of de novo domestication. The focus is on all perennial grains (sunflower, wheat, rice, etc.), other perennial new crops (such as jojoba, guayule, etc.) and annual new crops such as Guar, Crambe, Physaria, and industrial hemp, among other new sources of biomass, seed oil, rubber, resins, and gums.
Dr. Alejandra Vilela
Dr. Damian Ravetta
Dr. Luciana González-Paleo
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
- domestication
- wild relatives
- sustainability
- perennial
- ecosystem services
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