Advances in Plant Disease Modelling for Sustainable Crop Protection
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 30
Special Issue Editors
Interests: plant pathology; botanical epidemiology; plant disease modelling; risk assessment; decision-making in crop protection; sustainable crop management; precision crop protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant pathology; fungal plant pathology; plant disease modeling; epidemiology; intergrated pest management
Interests: plant disease epidemiology; biocontrol agents; biocontrol
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
At least 10% of crop losses globally are due to plant diseases, which threat the stability of agricultural systems, price volatility of agricultural products, food security and safety. Furthermore, increasing demands for sustainability from legislative frameworks, food chain stakeholders, and citizens has placed agricultural systems on a path towards reducing inputs, including the use of plant protection products. The complexity of this context highlights the relevance of mathematical models for plant diseases in developing more sustainable agricultural systems, reducing pesticide use while ensuring farm resilience and mitigating risks for human health and the environment.
In this context, day by day, tactical decisions are made by crop managers in response to what is happening at the crop level, trying to address whether and when disease control is really needed. Multiple modelling approaches have been developed to incorporate key epidemiological aspects by investigating the concurrent interactions between plant hosts, pathogens, and environmental conditions that drive the onset of outbreaks and progression of plant diseases. Along with model development, model validation and model evaluation in practical disease control represent key points in advancing decision support tools useful for us to move from a conventional, calendar-based approach to a risk-based strategy for disease management.
This Special Issue focuses on botanical epidemiology for the development of plant disease models supporting tactical decisions in crop protection, with the aim of depicting the current landscape of diverse modelling techniques’ potential in driving agricultural transition towards sustainable, precision crop protection.
All relevant modelling approaches will therefore be considered, from classic to novel methods of empirical modelling (including big data techniques and artificial intelligence) and to advances in process-based modelling, model emulation, and ensemble modelling. This Special Issue welcomes both generic plant disease frameworks and models for specific pathosystems.
Prof. Dr. Vittorio Rossi
Dr. Irene Salotti
Dr. Tito Caffi
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
- plant disease
- crop protection
- disease management
- plant disease modelling
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