Advances in Water Use and Nutrient Uptake Mechanism of Crops under Environmental Change

Dear Colleagues,

Since the industrial revolution, various environmental challenges have emerged following the intensification of anthropogenic activities, such as a shortage of fresh water resources and the degradation of arable soils. This would significantly influence the productivity and quality of crops, as well as food safety around the world. To date, tremendous efforts have made to understand the responses of crop water and nutrient acquisition to the changed environment at varied scales. However, the mechanisms of crop water use and nutrient uptake in the soil–crop– atmosphere continuum as influenced by abiotic variables remain largely elusive, particularly the interactions between the genotype, environment, and management, and the field management practices that could potentially enhance the crops’ efficient use of water and nutrients need to be developed.

This research topic aims to gather leading studies on reasonable and efficient crop water and/or nutrient utilization under changing environments (drought, heat, and CO₂ elevation) and different irrigation and fertilization techniques (deficit irrigation, reduced fertilization, soil amendment, etc.). We wish to collect original research, meta-analysis articles, and reviews/mini-reviews related to this topic to provide novel insights into the mechanism of crop plants in response to environmental factors and management strategies for achieving the sustainable production of crops in future climate change scenarios.

Dr. Zhenhua Wei
Prof. Dr. Fulai Liu
Prof. Dr. Yaosheng Wang
Guest Editors

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