Soil Microbes and Ecological Strategies for Sustainable Management of Plant Pathogens

Dear Colleagues,

Soil is a highly complex and dynamic ecosystem that harbors diverse microbial communities capable of forming close associations with agricultural crops and contributing to optimal plant growth and productivity. Certain members of the soil microbiota play a crucial role in regulating or inhibiting the proliferation of phytopathogenic organisms responsible for significant global economic losses.

Advances in soil microbiome research—particularly genomics and other omics-based approaches—along with the isolation and characterization of beneficial microorganisms, have enabled the development of sustainable strategies for microbiome modulation and the design of biological products. These approaches provide environmentally friendly alternatives to plant disease management and help reduce reliance on chemical pesticides, whose adverse effects on environmental, animal and human health are well documented.

This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts that explore the soil microbes using diverse methodological approaches and that provide foundational knowledge or promote the development of ecological strategies for plant pathogen management.

We encourage the submission of original research articles and mini-reviews addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

-Studies on beneficial soil microbiomes associated with agricultural crops.

-Manipulation or engineering of the soil microbiome to reduce the incidence of plant pathogens.

-Agroecological and sustainable management practices based on soil microbiome dynamics.

-Soil microbial interactions involved in plant pathogen suppression.

-Isolation and characterization of plant growth-promoting microorganisms for the control of plant pathogens or the enhancement of plant resistance.

-Reduction in soil-applied pesticides through the use of beneficial microorganisms.

-Sustainable management of emerging plant pathogens using soil microbial resources.

-Omics-based studies focused on the application of microorganisms for plant pathogen control.

Prof. Dr. María Soledad Vásquez-Murrieta
Prof. Dr. Fernando Uriel Rojas Rojas
Dr. Brenda Román-Ponce
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.