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Agronomy
Special Issues
Enhancing Agricultural Practices: Novel Nature-Derived Plant Growth Stimulators
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Enhancing Agricultural Practices: Novel Nature-Derived Plant Growth Stimulators

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2025 | Viewed by 686

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Eszter Virag

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Metagenomics, University of Debrecen, Egyetem Square 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: plant; biostimulants; biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Erzsébet Mónika Karaffa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Food Science, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Interests: microbiology; plant pathology; crop protection

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural-based biostimulators may improve the metabolic and adaptive performance of plants treated under abiotic and biotic stress conditions. These different environmental constraints may limit the yield and quality of cultivated plants; however, to counteract these effects, plants undertake certain biochemical adaptations in order to maintain proper growth.

Among the various strategies employed to mitigate the negative effects of abiotic/biotic stress on plants, the use of environmentally friendly biostimulators is one of the most promising. Plants attempt to overcome environmental changes by using sophisticated sensing mechanisms, signaling and acclimation strategies, such as the increased production of antioxidant metabolites (e.g., flavonoids, proline, enzymes), to regulate reactive oxygen species, avoid oxidative stress and prevent changes in the levels of phytohormones.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to present a collection of studies that provide new solutions regarding chemical crop protection and support the sustainable management of crops. We welcome studies on the development of biostimulator materials and mechanisms of action, including in vitro, laboratory and field tests.

Dr. Eszter Virag
Prof. Dr. Erzsébet Mónika Karaffa
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

  • biostimulation
  • plant–pathogen interaction
  • crop protection
  • phytohormone
  • biopesticides
  • organic farming
  • abiotic/biotic stress

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

27 pages, 7356 KiB  
Article
Garlic Extracts Nanoliposome as an Enhancer of Bioavailability of ABA and Thiamine Content and as an Antifungal Agent Against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. pisi Infecting Pisum sativum
by Barbara Kutasy, Géza Hegedűs, Márta Kiniczky, József Péter Pallos, Ágnes Nagy, István Pócsi, Klaudia Pákozdi, Máté Kállai, Csaba Weingart, Katalin Andor, Bettina Kovács and Eszter Virág
Agronomy 2025, 15(4), 991; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15040991 - 21 Apr 2025
Viewed by 501
Abstract
Fusarium infections in Pisum sativum L. crops present a major constraint to cultivation, leading to substantial yield losses. However, effective disease management strategies, particularly the implementation of biological control methods, offer promising approaches for mitigating infection severity and limiting pathogen spread. In P. [...] Read more.
Fusarium infections in Pisum sativum L. crops present a major constraint to cultivation, leading to substantial yield losses. However, effective disease management strategies, particularly the implementation of biological control methods, offer promising approaches for mitigating infection severity and limiting pathogen spread. In P. sativum cultivation, pathogen control is particularly challenging due to the limited penetration of pesticides into the leaves. This is attributed to the dense crystalline plate structure within the leaf cuticle, which acts as a barrier, reducing the efficacy of conventional chemical treatments. Therefore, optimizing the formulation of biopesticides and plant conditioning agents is essential to improve the absorption and bioavailability of active ingredients, ensuring more effective disease management in P. sativum cultivation. This study examined the exogenous effects of garlic extracts in different formulations, including EliceVakcina (liposomal formulation), Garlic-lipo (liposomal formulation), and Garlic-oil (oil-based formulation), which contained high concentrations of abscisic acid (ABA) at 6.3, 81, and 80.4 µg g−1, respectively. Transcriptomic profiling, including the identification of Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and KEGG pathway analysis of EliceVakcina-treated field samples, revealed a significant upregulation of stress- and defence-related genes, as well as pathways associated with thiamine metabolism and ABA signalling. Notably, key defence genes, including pathogenesis-related (PR1, PR2, PR4, PR5) and SnRK2, were overexpressed, indicating an enhanced stress response. HPLC-DAD analytical investigations confirmed the activation of the thiamine biosynthesis pathway, demonstrating a 14.3% increase in vitamin B1 content. Furthermore, the absence of Fusarium infection in the treated small-plot field cultures suggests that the tested garlic extracts formulation functions as a promising preventive biostimulant against plant fungal diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Agricultural Practices: Novel Nature-Derived Plant Growth Stimulators)
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