Management and Efficient Utilization of Water and Fertilizer in Field Crops—3rd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the global rise in population and climate change, food security and production have become major concerns. Water and fertilizer are two of the main limited resources and are vital elements for agricultural production, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. However, there have been few studies on water–fertilizer coupling’s effects on plant–soil relationships, crop growth monitoring, and yield prediction. Access to a well-coordinated water and fertilizer supply promotes growth, leaf photosynthetic capacity, grain and forage yield, quality, and water and fertilizer use efficiency, as well as having production benefits.

This Special Issue invites original research, technology reports, modeling approaches and methods, opinion articles, perspectives, reviews, and mini reviews on water and fertilizer management in plant–soil systems. Topics include—but are not limited to—the following: (1) understandings of how plants efficiently perceive and take up water and fertilizers in the soil; (2) diagnoses of water and nutrient deficiencies; (3) the effects of different water and fertilizer management practices on plant growth, dry matter accumulation and translocation, nutrient uptake, forage quality, yield, and water and fertilizer use efficiencies; (4) optimized irrigation and fertilizer practices, cropping systems, and agronomic strategies for improving water–fertilizer use efficiency and crop productivity; (5) modern fertigation technologies for field crops; (6) sensing techniques and multiple scales of phenotyping platforms (e.g., ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and satellites) for vegetation health monitoring and yield prediction.

Dr. Shicheng Yan
Prof. Dr. Junliang Fan
Dr. Zhou Zhang
Dr. Chao Zhang
Guest Editors

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