Breeding for Disease Resistance and Nutrient Use Efficiency in Horticultural Crops
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics, Genomics, Breeding, and Biotechnology (G2B2)".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2026 | Viewed by 80
Editors
Interests: resistance genes; plant physiology; tropical plants; nutrient starvation
Interests: clubroot resistance; vegetable breeding; plant immunity; gene identification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: pepper; tomato; resistance genes; genetic regulatory networks
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Horticultural crops, including vegetables, fruit trees, and tropical species, play a vital role in global food security and the agricultural economy. Among the many challenges to sustainable production, diseases and nutrient inefficiency are two major constraints that cause significant yield losses and increase environmental costs. This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research on the breeding of horticultural varieties with enhanced disease resistance and improved nutrient use efficiency.
We invite original research articles and comprehensive reviews that investigate the genetic, molecular, and physiological mechanisms underlying disease resistance (against fungal, bacterial, viral, and nematode pathogens) and nutrient use efficiency (particularly nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients) in horticultural crops. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, identification and utilization of resistant germplasm, quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), marker-assisted selection (MAS), genomic selection, and gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9. Studies that explore the interplay between disease resistance and nutrient uptake are especially welcome.
By focusing on these two critical traits, this Special Issue seeks to provide a platform for knowledge exchange and to accelerate the development of horticultural cultivars that are both disease-resistant and nutrient-efficient. We warmly welcome submissions from experts worldwide.
Dr. Zai Zheng
Prof. Dr. Xiaolin Yu
Dr. Fengfeng Dang
Dr. Jinhui Lin
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. 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 2400 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
- disease resistance
- nutrient use efficiency (NUE)
- horticultural crops
- molecular breeding
- marker-assisted selection (MAS)
- genome editing/CRISPR
- quantitative trait loci (QTL)
- plant–pathogen interaction
- rhizosphere microbes
- sustainable horticulture
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