Biological Control of Integrated Pest Management in Horticulture Crops

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on how biological control serves as the cornerstone of integrated pest management (IPM) in horticultural crops, providing effective, residue-safe, and climate-resilient alternatives to reliance on synthetic pesticides. We invite contributions that elucidate the ecology, mechanisms, implementation, and upscaling of biocontrol-based IPM strategies in fruit, vegetable, ornamental, nursery, and protected-culture systems under open-field or greenhouse conditions. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary studies that link fundamental research with practical IPM decision-making, farmer adoption, and policy or regulatory frameworks at regional and global scales. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Ecology and mechanisms of biological control in horticultural systems;
• Biocontrol agents and products for IPM in horticultural crops, including classical, augmentative, and conservation biocontrol;
• IPM design, decision-support tools, and integration strategies at field, farm, and landscape scales;
• Conservation and habitat management approaches that enhance functional biodiversity and natural enemy services;
• Compatibility, risk assessment, and non-target effects of biocontrol agents and reduced-risk pesticides;
• Emerging technologies empowering biocontrol-based IPM in horticulture, such as omics, microbiome engineering, remote sensing, precision agriculture, and digital decision tools, as well as case studies demonstrating successful implementation and impact assessment of biocontrol-based IPM programmes.

Dr. Chenchen Zhao
Dr. Carmelo Peter Bonsignore
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-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.