Alternatives to Mineral Nitrogen Fertilizers in Agriculture: State of the Art, Challenges and Future Prospects, 2nd Edition
A special issue of Nitrogen (ISSN 2504-3129).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2025) | Viewed by 19001
Special Issue Editor
Interests: organic and biological fertilizers (biofertilizers); biostimulants; compost; rhizobia; legumes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The first edition of the Special Issue “Alternatives to Mineral Nitrogen Fertilizers in Agriculture: State of the Art, Challenges and Future Prospects” was closed in 2024 (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/nitrogen/special_issues/Altern_N_Fertil).
It was a successful collection comprising a number of excellent papers and has encouraged us to open a second edition on the same topic. As a continuation of the first Special Issue, this second edition invites the scientific community to share their investigations related to the minimization of the environmental impacts of nitrogen application in agriculture and to the optimization of fertilization. Research articles and reviews on agronomic, chemical, biological, or multidisciplinary aspects of this area are welcome. In addition, papers may cover (but are not limited to) the following topics:
- Biological and symbiotic nitrogen fixation;
- Legume crops;
- Legume inoculation with rhizobia, endophytic, and free-living diazotrophs;
- Bioengineering crops for nitrogen fixation;
- Vegetation cover;
- Intercropping strategies;
- Environmental contamination of nitrogen fertilizers;
- Nitrogen emissions (NH3, N2O, NO or N2);
- Manure and organic fertilizers;
- Green manure;
- Biochar as a nitrogen carrier;
- Enhanced-efficiency nitrogen fertilizers;
- Nitrogen transformation in organic waste treatments: composting, vermicomposting, and anaerobic digestion;
- Application of composts, vermicompost, or digestate;
- Plant-growth-promoting microorganisms;
- Biostimulants;
- Seaweed protein extraction and application;
- New technologies for nitrogen recovery from organic waste;
- N-cycle in soils: nitrification, denitrification, etc.;
- Regenerative agriculture;
- Precision agriculture for nitrogen management;
- Economic feasibility of alternative fertilizers;
- Environmental impact assessment;
- Adoption barriers and farmer perceptions.
Dr. Germán Tortosa
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. Nitrogen is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1200 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
- biological and symbiotic nitrogen fixation
- legume crops
- manure and organic fertilizers
- alternative fertilizers
- environmental impact assessment
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
