Novel Agroecological Strategies Based on Beneficial Microbes

Dear Colleagues,

With an ever-growing world population, the demand for nutrient-rich food sources also increases. Together with the higher awareness for the environmental problems inherent to conventional food production systems, this demand imposes pressures on modern agriculture to produce high yielding crops in a sustainable manner. Research for alternative high-performance greener strategies to improve crop productivity has increasingly focused on the use of biological natural resources to reduce or even to replace chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides, which are responsible for heavy ecological and environmental damages to surrounding ecosystems. The use of beneficial microbes, along with appropriate agricultural management, provides a clean eco-friendly strategy to increase crop productivity, to manage environmental stress, and to combat biotic pests, through mechanisms which are not fully understood. A better understanding of how plant–microbe interactions occur and identification of the mechanisms responsible for the synergistic outcomes will help to establish the way in which these mechanisms improve plant health, thus allowing the design of new and improved strategies for a future integrated agriculture with neutral environmental impacts.

This special issue is dedicated to the most recent research focused on crop improvement using beneficial microbes or their products to accelerate the application of greener agricultural practices. In the scope of sustainable farming, manuscripts dedicated to advancing our understanding of plant–microbe interactions are most welcome.

Dr. Jorge M. S. Faria
Dr. Clarisse Brigido
Dr. Esther Menéndez
Guest Editors

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