Improving Water Use Efficiency and Plant Productivity Under Conventional and Unconventional Irrigation

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural water pollution is a major global problem. Agricultural water includes both conventional (surface water and groundwater) and unconventional (reclaimed water, saline water, rainwater, and piggery wastewater) sources of water. However, the excess nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, salt, and ions in polluted agricultural water may cause non-point source pollution or secondary salinization of soil, and some emerging pollutants (POPs, EDCs, antibiotics, microplastics, etc.) are also prevalent in agricultural water, posing potential risks to soil and crops. Understanding plant physiological and ecological responses to these challenges is therefore crucial for ensuring water use efficiency, plant productivity, and agricultural sustainability.

The following Special Issue aims to explore the plant physiological and ecological responses, uptake and translocation mechanisms, and changes in yield and quality under conditions of polluted water, salinity stress, heavy metals, and emerging contaminants. It also seeks to broaden the discussion to include water resource utilization, plant productivity, and plant adaptation under both conventional and unconventional irrigation practices.

This Special Issue invites original research, modelling approaches and methods, and reviews on Water Use Efficiency and Plant Productivity under Conventional and Unconventional Irrigation. Topics include—but are not limited to—the following: (1) plant physiological and ecological responses to water pollution; (2) mechanisms explaining how plants absorb and transport pollutants, salts, heavy metals, and emerging contaminants; (3) the effects of polluted water and salinity stress on yield and quality; (4) plant adaptation to water and salt stress; (5) the efficient use of both conventional and unconventional water sources to improve water use efficiency and plant productivity; (6) the impact of unconventional water resources on soil and plant health; and (7) management practices for sustainable agriculture to mitigate the negative impacts of polluted water and salinity stress on crops.

Dr. Chuncheng Liu
Dr. Bingjian Cui
Dr. Juan Wang
Dr. Zhongyang Li
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.

• plant productivity
• water use efficiency
• secondary salinization of soil
• saline water
• reclaimed water
• emerging contaminants
• agricultural sustainability