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Identification and Breeding of High-Quality, Disease-Resistance and High-Producing Varieties

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2025 | Viewed by 508

Special Issue Editors

Department of Horticulture, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
Interests: QTL mapping; GAWS; GP; molecular breeding; vegetable breeding
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Crop Science, Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Manastur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: crop science; plant genetics; germplasm conservation; medicinal plant research; plant breeding techniques

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Guest Editor
Department of Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 3-5 Mănăstur Street, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Interests: genetics and plant breeding; production of seed and planting material; genetic resources; agricultural crops; medicinal and aromatic plants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants provide nearly all of the nourishment needed by humans. Every single food item we consume is either made of plant resources or is rather derived from plants, such as meat, eggs, and dairy products. In order to address global challenges of food security and guarantee the sustainability of agriculture, it is vital to develop high-performance plant varieties. Therefore, we started a Special Issue in Agronomy entitled “Identification and Breeding of High-Quality, Disease-Resistance and High-Producing Varieties” with the following objectives for a sustainable agriculture:

  • increase of agricultural yield in the context of the continuing global population development;
  • improve the plant's nutritional quality for increasing the quality of foods;
  • developing of disease resistance for agricultural practices less harmful to the environment by reducing the need to use pesticides;
  • adaptability to climate changes to sustain an acceptable level of yield of the plant varieties;
  • efficient use of environment resources for a long-term sustainability;
  • diversification of agricultural crops through cultivation of new plant species.

High-performing cultivars are essential to ensure a sustainable and high-yielding agriculture adapted to global challenges, therefore this Special Issue's primary goal is to emphasize essential findings of plant breeding for the identification of high-quality, disease-resistance and high-producing varieties.

Dr. Ainong Shi
Dr. Andreea Ona
Dr. Leon Muntean
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

  • crops yield
  • disease resistance
  • varieties quality
  • climate changes
  • food security

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

29 pages, 2910 KiB  
Article
Study to Develop a Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) Field Trial Protocol for Cannabis sativa L. Flower Varieties
by Tiziana Vonlanthen, Zora Fuchs, Christelle Cronje, Leron Katsir, Maximilian Vogt, Gavin George, Michael E. Ruckle and Jürg Hiltbrunner
Agronomy 2025, 15(6), 1338; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15061338 - 29 May 2025
Viewed by 282
Abstract
Variety testing systems in Europe do not account for cannabis varieties selected specifically for flower and cannabinoid production. These “flower varieties” are morphologically distinct from industrial varieties, with significant implications for agronomic characterization in the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) testing system. [...] Read more.
Variety testing systems in Europe do not account for cannabis varieties selected specifically for flower and cannabinoid production. These “flower varieties” are morphologically distinct from industrial varieties, with significant implications for agronomic characterization in the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) testing system. However, they are not considered as drug-type varieties due to their low Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) content. Identifying specific traits that can objectively describe these varieties is integral to establishing stable and high-quality production standards. We evaluated specific traits tailored to the VCU testing of flower varieties in two field trials. The assessed phenological traits showed significant differences between varieties (p < 0.0001) for all traits except ease of harvest (EH) and lodging, with significant differences also found in all yield-related traits. The number of branches per plant (NBP), flower and leaf yield (FLY), harvest index (HI) and raceme compactness index (RCI) could therefore be considered for VCU testing. The varieties differed significantly in their cannabinoid content, with all falling below the THC limit under Swiss regulation (1%) but not all meeting the 0.3% limit set by European countries. Variations in THC content were dependent on the testing year, the timing of sampling and the number of plants sampled, underscoring the need to clarify VCU testing methodologies. Incorporating cannabinoid content along with morphological and phenological traits is crucial in introducing a new “flower” category within the VCU system for cannabis. Full article
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