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Horticulturae
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Abiotic Stress Responses of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition
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Abiotic Stress Responses of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Biotic and Abiotic Stress".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2026 | Viewed by 1606

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Haijun Gong

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: physiological and molecular basis of plants’ adaptation to abiotic stresses; plant nutrition uptake and transport
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Vegetables are important horticultural crops and provide essential nutrients for humans in their daily lives. However, during their growth and development, vegetables are frequently subjected to various environmental stresses, such as extreme temperatures, drought, salinity, and heavy metal pollution, causing yield and quality reductions as well as food safety concerns. Like other plants, when vegetable crops first sense external environmental stimuli, they trigger signaling pathways, leading to alterations in gene expressions. These consequently cause adaptive responses such as morphological, physiological, and biochemical modifications. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in our understanding of the responses and adaptation mechanisms of vegetable crops to various abiotic stresses.

Prof. Dr. Haijun Gong
Guest Editor

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.

Keywords

  • vegetable
  • drought
  • salinity/salt stress
  • heavy metal pollution
  • cold/freezing stress
  • heat stress
  • light stress
  • adaptive response

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 14149 KB  
Article
Dynamic Changes in Organ Morphology and K+/Na+ Content of Pumpkin Seedlings Under Salt Stress
by Hongjiu Liu, Ding Ding, Guoxin Zhang, Yeshuo Sun, Ruiping Ma and Xiaoqing Yang
Horticulturae 2025, 11(11), 1293; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11111293 - 28 Oct 2025
Viewed by 549
Abstract
Pumpkin is widely used as a rootstock to enhance salt tolerance and improve productivity of Cucurbit crops. To date, the morphology and ion parameters of pumpkins at a certain time point under salt stress are well-known. However, the dynamic changes in organ morphology [...] Read more.
Pumpkin is widely used as a rootstock to enhance salt tolerance and improve productivity of Cucurbit crops. To date, the morphology and ion parameters of pumpkins at a certain time point under salt stress are well-known. However, the dynamic changes in organ morphology and K+/Na+ content of pumpkin under salt stress and the relationship of them remain unclear. Therefore, this study investigated biomass, root morphology, stem structure, and K+/Na+ content in salt-sensitive (JZ-1) and salt-tolerant (JYZ-1) pumpkins under 0 mM and 120 mM NaCl conditions at 2, 5, and 10 days after treatment (DAT). Our results show that at the beginning, NaCl treatment led to a sharp decrease in shoot fresh weight by 30–53% and a slight decrease in root fresh weight, plant dry weight, and total root length and affects the K+ and Na+ content both in JZ-1 and JYZ-1 at 2 DAT. Subsequently, total root volume and number of tips have changed, in which NaCl treatment resulted in a significant increase of 127% in total root volume and a significant decrease of 38.4% in number of tips in JYZ-1 at 5 DAT, but no significant difference in JZ-1 at 5 DAT was found. At the end, root fresh weight and stem structure parameters were significantly decreased by NaCl treatment at 10 DAT both in JZ-1 and JYZ-1, and stem cross-sectional area under NaCl conditions in JZ-1 and JYZ-1 at 10 DAT (2.133 and 2.316 mm3, respectively) was significantly lower than that under control conditions (2.933 and 4.441 mm3, respectively). Additionally, shoot K+ content showed a trend of first upward and then downward in JZ-1 and a slightly decreasing trend in JYZ-1, and shoot Na+ content displayed a trend of first downward and then upward in JZ-1 and a slightly increasing trend in JYZ-1. It is suggested that shoot K+ content, shoot Na+ content, and total root volume be considered as the important parameters for pumpkin salt tolerance assessment. These findings will help us better understand the mechanisms of salt tolerance and improve the efficiency of identification of salt-tolerant pumpkin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress Responses of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition)
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21 pages, 2154 KB  
Article
Root-Specific Overexpression of the CmDUF239-1 Gene Enhances Heat Tolerance in Melon Seedlings by Upregulating Antioxidant Enzymes Activities, Proline Content, and Expression of Heat Shock Protein-Related Genes
by Yang Li, Zhanming Tan, Yanjun Liu, Yuquan Peng and Chunyan Liu
Horticulturae 2025, 11(10), 1198; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae11101198 - 3 Oct 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 780
Abstract
High temperature stress is a critical factor affecting the growth and yield of melons (Cucumis melo L.), and improving heat tolerance is therefore crucial for stable production. While the overexpression of the CmDUF239-1 gene is known to improve salt tolerance in melons, [...] Read more.
High temperature stress is a critical factor affecting the growth and yield of melons (Cucumis melo L.), and improving heat tolerance is therefore crucial for stable production. While the overexpression of the CmDUF239-1 gene is known to improve salt tolerance in melons, its impact on heat tolerance remains unexplored. The role of the CmDUF239-1 gene in enhancing heat tolerance and its underlying mechanisms was investigated in this study. Melon seedlings overexpressing CmDUF239-1 (OEDUF239-1), generated via root transformation, exhibited significantly lower reductions in fresh and dry mass under heat stress compared to controls, indicating enhanced heat tolerance. One day post-stress, antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, CAT, APX, and GR) increased significantly in OEDUF239-1, while malondialdehyde (MDA) levels decreased. Additionally, proline content and the activity of its synthesizing enzyme (P5CS) rose, whereas the activity of proline dehydrogenase (ProDH) dropped. Transcriptomic and qPCR analyses revealed that CmDUF239-1 overexpression upregulated antioxidant enzyme-related genes (e.g., CmCSD1, CmPOD1) and proline-related genes (e.g., CmP5CS), as well as Heat Shock Protein (HSP) genes (e.g., CmHSP17.6II, CmHSP18.2). In summary, the enhancement of heat tolerance in melon by the CmDUF239-1 gene was mediated through the upregulation of genes involved in antioxidant defense and proline metabolism, together with increased accumulation of HSPs, providing a mechanistic basis for heat-resilient breeding programs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Abiotic Stress Responses of Vegetable Crops—2nd Edition)
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