Biological Control of Agricultural and Forestry Plant Diseases

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 9 December 2025 | Viewed by 1285

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: Rhizobacteria; Bacillus amyloliquefaciens; Bacillus velezensis; Bacillus subtilis; microbial fertilizers,plant growth-promoting bacilli; plant probiotics; biological control

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: forest pathology; forest microbiology; plant nematology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of escalating concerns over chemical pesticide use, the quest for sustainable and eco-friendly disease management strategies has never been more urgent. This Special Issue of Plants, entitled “Biological Control of Agricultural and Forestry Plant Diseases”, aims to spotlight innovative research and advancements in the biological control of plant diseases within the realms of agriculture and forestry. We invite researchers and practitioners to contribute original research articles, reviews, minireviews, and short communications that explore the use of biological agents and natural mechanisms to combat plant pathogens and diseases.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Mechanisms of action of biological control agents (BCAs) against plant diseases;
  • Advances in microbial, botanical, and bio-molecular agents for disease control;
  • Integration of biological control methods into existing disease management systems;
  • Impact assessments of biological control on crop yield and forest health;
  • Innovations in biotechnological and genetic engineering approaches for enhanced disease resistance;
  • Ecological and environmental implications of deploying biological control strategies;
  • Case studies on successful implementation of biological control in agricultural and forestry settings.

Submission Guidelines:

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 up to the deadline. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process, assessing their originality, technical quality, and contribution to the field. This Special Issue presents a timely opportunity to advance our understanding and application of biological control methods, paving the way for safer, more sustainable disease management practices in agriculture and forestry. We look forward to your contributions and to advancing the discourse in this critical area of research.

Prof. Dr. Ben Fan
Prof. Dr. Jia-Jin Tan
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

  • biological control
  • plant beneficial rhizobacteria
  • Bacillus velezensis
  • Bacillus subtilis
  • plant probiotics
  • forest pathology
  • plant nematology

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.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 2823 KiB  
Article
Biocontrol of Crown Gall Disease of Cherry Trees by Bacillus velezensis
by Yongfeng Li, Zhaoliang Gao, Weiliang Kong, Yueting Xiao, Mark Owusu Adjei and Ben Fan
Plants 2025, 14(3), 475; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14030475 - 5 Feb 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 792
Abstract
Crown gall disease (CGD), caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, is a common plant disease that leads to significant economic losses. Biological control is a sustainable and scalable method for managing CGD. In this study, we isolated three Bacillus strains from the rhizosphere soil [...] Read more.
Crown gall disease (CGD), caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, is a common plant disease that leads to significant economic losses. Biological control is a sustainable and scalable method for managing CGD. In this study, we isolated three Bacillus strains from the rhizosphere soil of healthy cherry trees and investigated their biocontrol activities and the underlying mechanisms against CGD of cherry trees. The results demonstrate that the three Bacillus strains can effectively inhibit the growth of the pathogenic A. tumefaciens strain XYT58 in vitro under different culture conditions. The pot experiments showed that the three strains could prevent CGD in cherry seedlings. Using PCR amplification, we identified the genes responsible for the synthesis of difficidin, macrolactin, and bacilysin in the three strains. In addition, inoculation with strains WY66 and WY519 significantly enhanced the expression of JA, ET, and SA pathway-related genes in cherry plants. The presence of antibiotic synthesis-related genes in the Bacillus strains and the trigger of plant ISR may explain their ability to control CGD in cherry trees. The findings of this study provide a theoretical basis for the application and development of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria Bacillus strains in the control of CGD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological Control of Agricultural and Forestry Plant Diseases)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop