Agronomic and Environmental Modulation of Plant Secondary Metabolites
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 969
Special Issue Editor
Interests: transcriptomics; phenolics; antimicrobial activity; sequencing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plant secondary metabolites—phenolics, terpenoids, alkaloids, glucosinolates and more—shape plant fitness, stress tolerance, and the nutritional and functional quality of crops. Their accumulation is highly sensitive to agronomic decisions and environmental cues. This Special Issue of Plants brings together cutting-edge research and syntheses that reveal how cultivation practices and changing climates steer secondary-metabolite pathways from gene regulation to field performance.
Contributions span controlled and open-field studies, from staple and horticultural crops to medicinal and aromatic plants. Featured topics include the following: impacts of fertilization regimes and soil health; irrigation strategies and deficit management; light quality/intensity and UV elicitation; temperature and heat/cold events; biostimulants, elicitors, and plant microbiome engineering; salinity, drought, and nutrient stresses; post-harvest handling; and integrative omics, flux analysis, and modeling. Together, these studies decipher mechanism, quantify metabolite profiles, and connect biochemical shifts to agronomic outcomes such as yield stability, product quality, shelf life, and bioactivity.
By linking environment- and practice-driven signals to metabolic outputs, this Special Issue outlines practical levers for climate-smart, resource-efficient agriculture and higher-value plant products. It enables a rigorous evidence base for researchers and practitioners to design cultivation systems that purposefully tune secondary metabolism—enhancing resilience and sustainability while delivering measurable gains in food quality, health-promoting compounds, and circular bioeconomy applications.
Dr. Andrei Lobiuc
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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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
- elicitation
- agricultural practices
- synthesis
- phenotypes
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.
