Application of Nanomaterials for Diseases and Pest Control in Agriculture: 2nd Edition

A Special Issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395) belonging to the section "Pest and Disease Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2027 | Viewed by 127

Editors


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Guest Editor
Biotecnología Vegetal, CONAHCYT-Centro de Investigación y Asistencia en Tecnología y Diseño del Estado de Jalisco A.C., Camino Arenero 1227, Zapopan 45019, Mexico
Interests: green nanoparticles synthesis; selenium nanoparticles; biostimulant properties; antifungal activity
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Guest Editor
Centro de Investigacion en Quimica Aplicada, Saltillo, Mexico
Interests: metallic nanoparticles; polymeric nanocomposites; plant protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since nanomaterials have different physical and chemical properties than macroscopic materials, the development of nanomaterials and related technologies represents a new avenue for creating smart nanopesticides. Nanomaterials consist of at least one dimension in the 1–100 nm range. Nanomaterials exhibit unique surface properties, a smaller size, high penetration ability, the ability to cross different cellular barriers and the ability to adhere to the surface of aqueous solutions for long periods.

Fertilizers and pesticides are the agrochemicals most commonly used in agricultural production systems; thus, the incursion of nanotechnology in agriculture was applied to these agrochemicals. In particular, pesticides play a crucial role in the defense of plants against pest and disease threats, enhancing crop productivity.

The delivery of nano-agrochemicals has the vast potential to improve the efficiency of agricultural inputs, reduce environmental pollution and lower labor costs, contributing to the sustainability of agricultural production systems.

In this Special Issue, reviews and original articles are expected to delve deeper into the topic of nanopesticides, including all nanomaterials with nanotechnological applications in agriculture, to increase the penetration, coverage and absorption of the active ingredient at the application site.

  • Nanomaterials with antibacterial, antifungal or insecticidal activity;
  • Controlled-release nanomaterials;
  • Nanomaterials to improve the stability of active ingredients;
  • Nanomaterials with pheromone application;
  • Nanomaterial-mediated nucleic acid pesticides;
  • Risks associated with nanomaterials as nanopesticides.

Dr. Soledad García-Morales
Dr. Rebeca G. Betancourt-Galindo
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 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-anonymized 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

  • nano-agrochemicals
  • nanopesticides
  • nano-protect

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 3727 KB  
Article
Nanoencapsulation of Plant-Derived Antifungals in Chitosan Oligomer Carriers Reduces Gray Mold Severity in ‘Tempranillo’ Vineyards: Field Efficacy and Preliminary Wine Sensory Assessment
by Eva Sánchez-Hernández, Javier García-Martín, Susana Luis-del Río, Jesús Martín-Gil, José Casanova-Gascón and Pablo Martín-Ramos
Agronomy 2026, 16(18), 1847; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16181847 (registering DOI) - 19 Sep 2026
Abstract
Gray mold (Botrytis cinerea Pers.) is a primary yield-limiting disease in European viticulture. Here we report a field evaluation of two chitosan oligomer (COS)-based nanocarrier (NC) systems loaded with Rubia tinctorum (NC-Rt) and Uncaria tomentosa (NC-Ut) extracts for B. cinerea management in [...] Read more.
Gray mold (Botrytis cinerea Pers.) is a primary yield-limiting disease in European viticulture. Here we report a field evaluation of two chitosan oligomer (COS)-based nanocarrier (NC) systems loaded with Rubia tinctorum (NC-Rt) and Uncaria tomentosa (NC-Ut) extracts for B. cinerea management in ‘Tempranillo’ vineyards (D.O.P. Ribera del Duero, 2024 season). In vitro, nanoencapsulation reduced the effective extract concentration required for complete inhibition of B. cinerea mycelial growth by 1.8–6.7-fold relative to free extracts. Ex situ, both NC formulations at MIC×3 significantly reduced gray mold severity on inoculated ‘Tempranillo’ bunches at days 5 and 7, but not on ‘Verdejo’ bunches. In a field trial under commercial-vineyard conditions, NC-Ut and NC-Rt reduced mean gray mold severity from 80% in the untreated control to 18–25%, compared with 35–40% for the free extracts and commercial chitosan, an effectiveness of 69–78%. No visual symptoms of acute phytotoxicity were observed during the trial, and cluster weight and cluster number did not differ significantly among treatments. A preliminary, exploratory sensory screening of the wines produced from the treated grapevines detected no significant treatment-related differences in off-flavor or Botrytis-related defect scores. These single-season results support further evaluation of COS-based NCs as delivery systems for plant-derived antifungals in viticulture. Full article
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