Breeding of Ornamental Plants—Genetic Resources, New Challenges and Prospects: 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Following the success of the first edition of this Special Issue, “Breeding of Ornamental Plants—Genetic Resources, New Challenges and Prospects”, a second edition is being launched.

In recent years, our outlook on ornamental plants has undergone many changes, which has also inextricably affected our approach to their breeding.

The intensive breeding of numerous plant taxa and their hybrids lead to genetic erosion. Genetic erosion is a phenomenon that has been observed for a long time and is regarded as dangerous, primarily because it reduces the ability to adapt to unfavorable conditions of both the environment and cultivation. It is therefore necessary to preserve the existing gene pool and incorporate new gene sources into breeding work.

Breeding new cultivars should primarily respond to new challenges for horticulture and the environment, and these include climate change, extreme weather events, the possibility of ecological and organic cultivation, and the increasing demand for plants that tolerate urban conditions. The latter poses a particular challenge, as urban environments are highly stressful. A second aspect is the special needs of urban gardening, e.g., well-being, street foods, food use, biodiversity, and ecology services. Others include the ability of phytoremediation and utilization of pollutions, especially air dust, heavy metal utilization, and improvements in urban microclimates.

The proposed Special Issue aims to present advanced studies, methods, tools, and innovations in the field of breeding ornamentals and the conservation of gene resources in new, challenging environments. We hope to receive your contributions in order to share them with our community of researchers, students, and technicians. We hope that this invitation receives your favorable consideration, and we look forward to your future collaboration.

Dr. Marta Monder
Guest Editor

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• applied genetics
• conservation of gene resources
• challenges of global climate change
• challenges of ecology
• new genetic resources
• biodiversity
• urbanized areas
• sustainable production and cultivation
• pests
• fungal diseases
• pathogens