Microbial-Assisted Plant Pathogens Management: Current Achievements and Future Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Amongst the key developments of modern agriculture has been the acceptance of chemical alternatives to promote sustainable environmental management. The primary concern to develop the capacity to feed around nine billion people by 2050. To improve agriculture production and quality, breeders must improve the cultivars to be resistant to both biotic and abiotic factors.

Plant pathogens management still relies on chemical products. However, microbial-assisted plant pathogens management is in a transitional phase. There is, thus, a vital necessity to optimize the microbe-based plant disease management techniques and fill the knowledge gaps of these essential microbial communities.

This Special Issue will cover novel agriculture practices and strategies for plant disease management through antagonistic microbes like Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., and Trichoderma sp. and their complex phenomena in plant defense activation. We will attempt to ask the vital question in this field today: How could modern cutting-edge technologies and multi-omics platforms help to understand the mechanisms and develop effective planning against the pathogen? How can integrated approaches like cropping systems, amendments to improve microbial activity, nanoparticle-based formulations, farm yard manure with microbes, microbes with mycorrhiza, microbes with plant extracts, microbes with biochar, etc., help in disease management? Molecular characterization of the pathogen, antagonistic microbes, and plant metabolites enzymes and hormones will provide opportunities to understand the essential functions of plant–pathogen–antagonist interactions.

This Special Issue covers innovative research and reviews to explore information on microbial-assisted plant pathogen management. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: plant disease management; the study of biocontrol mechanisms; molecular tools and plant antagonist interaction; antagonistic microbes, and plant metabolites enzymes and hormones; pathogen biology; biocontrol strategy development and application; cutting-edge technologies and multi-omics platforms.

Dr. Manoj Kumar Solanki
Guest Editor

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• plant diseases
• microbial antagonist
• integrated approaches
• multi-omics
• biocontrol mechanisms