Breeding Strategies to Enhance Quality and Resilience in Horticultural Crops

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, horticultural crops have faced a range of challenges that threaten food security. Among others, the effects of the climate change, both direct (drought, soil and water salinization, increasing temperatures) and indirect (e.g., new pathogens, changes in biological equilibriums in the soil). Also, high-input farming pollutes the atmosphere, water and soils, and requires huge amounts of water, fertilizers and non-renewable resources, etc. Furthermore, they are based on a few modern varieties that encompass narrow cultivated diversity, which presents a risk for food security. Finally, the interest of consumers in healthier fruits and vegetables offers the opportunity to new niches for high-quality foods. In this context, breeding strategies can provide an essential support to achieve more diverse and resilient farming systems, based on a plethora of improved varieties obtained from landraces (including organic heterogeneous materials), bred for adaptation to low-input conditions (i.e., water- and/or fertilizer-use efficiency, salinity, high temperatures) and with enhanced taste, flavor and/or nutritional value, as well as the identification of genes linked to these traits. The present Special Issue welcomes studies investigating breeding strategies and techniques that enhance the quality and adaptability of horticultural crops to new pedoclimatic challenges.

Prof. Dr. Adrían Rodríguez-Burruezo
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.