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Agronomy
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The Revision of Production Potentials and Yield Gaps in Field...
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The Revision of Production Potentials and Yield Gaps in Field Crops

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Precision and Digital Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 1192

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dario Iljkić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Production and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Interests: field crop production; abiotic stress; grain yield; grain quality; plant physiology
Dr. Marta Jańczak-Pieniążek

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Crop Production, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Environment Management and Protection, Faculty of Technology and Life Sciences, University of Rzeszów, 4 Zelwerowicza Street, 35-601 Rzeszów, Poland
Interests: crop production; cereal grain quality; wheat; rye; triticale; plant nutrition; oxidative stress; plant biochemistry; plant physiology; biostimulants
Prof. Dr. Ionel Samfira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Life Sciences “King Mihai I”, 300645 Timisoara, Romania
2. Agricultural Research and Development Station Lovrin, 307250 Lovrin, Romania
Interests: forage plants; vegetal sward; natural pastures; biodiversity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of rising global food demand and increasingly variable climatic conditions, narrowing the yield gap in field crops has become a key research priority. This Special Issue aims to comprehensively revise the concepts of production potential and yield gaps across diverse cropping systems and agroecological zones. We welcome innovative contributions that explore physiological, genetic, environmental, and management-related factors influencing yield potential, along with spatial and temporal yield variability. Studies that apply advanced modeling tools, remote sensing, AI-driven decision support systems, and big data analytics to quantify and interpret yield gaps are particularly encouraged.

Moreover, we seek interdisciplinary research on the role of agronomic practices such as precision agriculture, optimized fertilization and irrigation, sustainable crop rotations, and the use of biostimulants and soil amendments in bridging the gap between actual and potential yields. Contributions that assess the socio-economic and policy dimensions of yield gap reduction are also welcome. Through this Special Issue, we aim to provide actionable insights for improving productivity and sustainability in global crop production.

Dr. Dario Iljkić
Dr. Marta Jańczak-Pieniążek
Prof. Dr. Ionel Samfira
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-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

  • yield gap analysis
  • crop production potential
  • precision agriculture
  • field crops
  • biostimulants
  • remote sensing
  • sustainable intensification
  • climate-resilient cropping
  • crop modeling
  • soil and nutrient management

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2520 KB  
Article
Reproductive and Vegetative Yield Component Trade-Offs in Selection of Thinopyrum Intermedium
by Andrés Locatelli, Valentín D. Picasso, Pablo R. Speranza and Lucía Gutiérrez
Agronomy 2025, 15(12), 2895; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15122895 - 16 Dec 2025
Abstract
Integrating perennial grain crops into agricultural systems can become a key milestone for increasing the provision of ecosystem services of food production systems. Intermediate wheatgrass is a novel perennial grain and forage crop that is undergoing domestication. Potential trade-offs between resource allocation and [...] Read more.
Integrating perennial grain crops into agricultural systems can become a key milestone for increasing the provision of ecosystem services of food production systems. Intermediate wheatgrass is a novel perennial grain and forage crop that is undergoing domestication. Potential trade-offs between resource allocation and reproductive and vegetative plant structures can challenge the response to selection for both grain and forage production under dual-purpose use. Our goal was to understand the genetic relationship between grain and forage yield components, quantify potential trade-offs between vegetative and reproductive allocation, and optimize the response to selection under dual-purpose management. Phenological, grain, and forage traits were evaluated in 30 half-sib families across two field experiments conducted over three years. No trade-offs were detected between grain and forage yield traits, indicating that the simultaneous improvement of both traits is feasible. Grain yield per spike and spikes per plant are promising secondary traits for indirect selection, given their moderate-to-high heritability (h2 = 0.58 and 0.41) and strong Pearson correlation coefficients with grain yield per plant (0.68 and 0.82). These traits could be assessed in the first year, increasing genetic gain per unit time. Intermediate wheatgrass germplasm could therefore be efficiently developed by shortening the time to first evaluation, using secondary traits, and performing selection under dual-purpose management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Revision of Production Potentials and Yield Gaps in Field Crops)
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20 pages, 909 KB  
Article
Prediction of Winter Wheat Cultivar Performance Using Mixed Models and Environmental Mean Regression from Multi-Environment Trials for Cultivar Recommendation to Reduce Yield Gap in Poland
by Marzena Iwańska, Jakub Paderewski and Michał Stępień
Agronomy 2025, 15(10), 2309; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15102309 - 30 Sep 2025
Viewed by 662
Abstract
Accurate prediction of cultivar performance across diverse environments is crucial for breeding and recommendation systems, helping to reduce the yield gap, the difference between potential and actual yields, which is often widened by poor cultivar selection. This study assessed the adaptability of winter [...] Read more.
Accurate prediction of cultivar performance across diverse environments is crucial for breeding and recommendation systems, helping to reduce the yield gap, the difference between potential and actual yields, which is often widened by poor cultivar selection. This study assessed the adaptability of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars using a linear mixed-model framework combined with environmental mean regression. The model was trained on yield data from 19 locations over nine years (2015–2023) and validated independently using 2024 data. To ensure robustness, outliers were removed and cultivars with fewer than 30 observations excluded. The model accounted for genotype-by-environment (G×E) interactions and produced adjusted means for each location–year–management combination. These were used in cultivar-specific regressions to estimate yield response across environments. The approach showed strong predictive performance, with a Pearson correlation of 0.958 between predicted and observed yields in the validation year. Results highlight the model’s potential to inform cultivar recommendations, including for less-tested cultivars. This framework offers a practical tool for data-driven decision-making in plant breeding and agronomy, especially under variable growing conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Revision of Production Potentials and Yield Gaps in Field Crops)
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