Nitrogen Metabolism: From Plant Cell to Field and Vice Versa

Dear Colleagues,

The global demand for crops is increasing rapidly, propelled by an increase in the global population, as are the global environmental impacts of agricultural expansion. Agricultural systems depend crucially on the proper nitrogen (N)—the most applied mineral fertilizer to agricultural land—inputs and management. However, given the enormous energy cost of N fertilizer production, the fact that N forms some of the most mobile compounds in the soil–plant–atmosphere system, and concerns about the environmental cost of N losses in agriculture, it is essential to develop precision farming, innovate and apply slow-release fertilizers and biofertilizers, and practice legume-based rotation. Alternatively, practical strategies to improve the N responsiveness (i.e., N uptake and assimilation efficiencies) of crop plants is vital to attain high yields for global crop demand with minimal environmental impact.

This Special Issue of Nitrogen will include recent insights and research, reviews, methods, and opinion pieces addressing fundamental and applied topics relevant to the N in agricultural soil and N nutrition and metabolism from cells to field testing.

The manuscripts in this Special Issue will provide insights into the principles governing the behavior of N in the soil–plant system, complex interconnections between N and C in soil, plant–environment interactions affecting plant N status, plant N nutrition mediated by root microbiome (plant–microorganism interaction), N transport, N sensing and signaling, and molecular mechanisms of N use in the whole plant system. Additionally, newly emerged CRISPR/Cas systems, high-throughput analytical methods, crop breeding, and high-throughput phenomics and data modelling approaches to assess/monitor the plant N status/responses are welcome.

Dr. Marouane Baslam
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-anonymized 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.