Current Research on Plant Hormones Affecting Crop Yield and Fruit Quality

Dear Colleagues,

Phytohormones and other plant growth regulators (PGRs) have been reported to have a wide range of effects on crops, mainly increasing yield and fruit quality properties at harvest, as well as reducing the impact of biotic and abiotic stresses. The effects of auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins and ethylene, as well as their inhibitors, antagonists or promoters, are dependent on the applied concentration and plant development stage at the time of treatment. In addition to these classical hormones, other compounds such as polyamines, salicylates, jasmonates, brassinosteroids, NO and melatonin have similar effects to plant growth regulators (PGRs). Moreover, the application of these PGRs during on-tree or on-plant fruit development affects fruit quality during postharvest storage, leading to improvements in storage time whilst maintaining optimum quality for consumption. This Special Issue will be focused on the recent advances in the use of PGT as a field treatment to improve crop yield. Specifically, it will consider climate change and fruit quality at harvest, and the maintenance of quality during storage via delayed maturation and senescence processes, with a particular focus on bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties and their beneficial health effects. Finally, it will focus on the cross-talk among these elicitors, and how this plays a crucial role in mitigating possible negative effects on crop productivity by inducing plant antioxidant machinery.

Prof. Dr. María Serrano
Prof. Dr. Daniel Valero
Guest Editors

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