Advances in Sustainable Control of Bacterial Pathogens in Horticultural Crops

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Pathology and Disease Management (PPDM)".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 622

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences (DSA3), University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06123 Perugia, Italy
Interests: molecular plant pathology; phytobacteriology; plant-microbe interaction; organic and inorganic nanoparticles; interaction between phytopathogenic and endophytes bacteria
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Guest Editor
Department of Agricultural Science and Forestry (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo De Lellis snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: phytobacteriology; biological control; tree-crops protection; quarantine plant pathogens; pathogen epidemiology; nanotechnology in agrofood applications

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Guest Editor
Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: integrated disease management; phytobacteriology; nanotechnology in agrofood applications; biofilm; plant-microbe interactions; antimicrobial compounds

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant Pathogenic bacteria pose a serious threat to the health of horticultural crops and food security, considering the impact of climate change and the decreasing effectiveness of traditional pesticides. In many areas of the world, a concerning rise in bacterial populations resistant to copper or antibiotics has been witnessed, leaving farmers without viable solutions to protect their crops. Finding innovative tools to control phytopathogenic bacteria is one of the most challenging issues in modern plant pathology. Fortunately, several alternative approaches have been investigated recently, including developing antagonist microbiological consortia, identifying bio-active peptides and phage populations, using natural derivatives and nano-engineered molecules, and breeding resistant or tolerant varieties.

The main objective of this Special Issue focuses on gathering the most promising research on innovative control tools against plant pathogenic bacteria, highlighting aspects related to the characterization of antimicrobial mechanisms, chemical formulation, and standardization of novel pesticides and formulations, as well as results from in vitro and in vivo effectiveness assays. Via common contributions from the international scientific community, we hope to promote a better understanding of the complex disciplines behind prokaryote applied microbiology and share the most encouraging technologies to explore and develop shortly into plant pathology.

Prof. Dr. Chiaraluce Moretti
Prof. Giorgio Mariano Balestra
Dr. Daniele Schiavi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Horticulturae 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 2200 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

  • plant pathogenic bacteria
  • integrated disease management
  • copper
  • natural substances
  • biocontrol agents
  • nanopesticides
  • bactericides
  • antibiotics
  • phages
  • peptides
  • antimicrobial properties

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2095 KiB  
Article
Biogenic Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Protect Tomato Plants Against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato
by Benedetta Orfei, Anna Scian, Daniele Del Buono, Michela Paglialunga, Ciro Tolisano, Dario Priolo, Chiaraluce Moretti and Roberto Buonaurio
Horticulturae 2025, 11(4), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11040431 - 17 Apr 2025
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Abstract
The control of bacterial plant diseases is very challenging and often relies on the application of copper compounds, although the frequent emergence and spread of resistant bacterial strains compromise their efficacy. Additionally, copper-based compounds raise environmental and human health concerns, leading to their [...] Read more.
The control of bacterial plant diseases is very challenging and often relies on the application of copper compounds, although the frequent emergence and spread of resistant bacterial strains compromise their efficacy. Additionally, copper-based compounds raise environmental and human health concerns, leading to their inclusion in the European Commission’s list of candidates for substitution. As a promising and sustainable alternative, we investigated the efficacy of biogenic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) in protecting tomato plants against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst), the causal agent of bacterial speck disease. ZnO-NPs exhibited significant in vitro antibacterial activity (EC95 = 17.0 ± 1.1 ppm) against the pathogen. Furthermore, when applied to the foliage of tomato plants at 100 ppm before or following Pst inoculation, they induced significant reductions in symptom severity and bacterial growth in planta, which were comparable to those shown by plants treated with acibenzolar-S-methyl, a plant defense inducer. Gene expression assessed by qPCR revealed the involvement of the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) pathway in tomato plants treated with ZnO-NPs before inoculation, suggesting that the observed protection could be due to a priming effect. Finally, infected plants showed oxidative stress, with higher H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents. ZnO-NPs reverted this effect, containing the content of the above molecules, and stimulated the production of metabolites involved in dealing with oxidative perturbations (carotenoids and phenols), while unaffecting flavonoids and anthocyanins. Full article
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