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Plants
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Biofertilizers for Plant Growth Enhancement and Sustainable Agriculture
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Biofertilizers for Plant Growth Enhancement and Sustainable Agriculture

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 588

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jayakumar Bose

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Science, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE), Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW 2753, Australia
Interests: halophytes; solute transport; plant physiology; molecular biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yanbo Wang

E-Mail
Guest Editor
School of Science, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
Interests: biofertilizers; bioenergy; agricultural systems modelling; nutrient cycling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As agriculture faces growing challenges from climate change, soil degradation, and resource limitations, biofertilizers are emerging as valuable solutions to enhance crop productivity and soil health. This Special Issue focuses on recent advancements in biofertilizers, including microbial inoculants and organic amendments like compost and biogas digestate, aimed at improving nutrient availability, plant growth, and soil function. It also explores innovative formulations, such as biochar, that can be used as carriers or enhancers in biofertilizer applications.

We welcome submissions that explore the mechanisms by which biofertilizers enhance plant growth, such as nutrient uptake, root development, plant–microbe interactions, and stress tolerance. We also encourage research on their role in sustainable agriculture, including system-level assessments like life cycle analysis, techno-economic evaluation, and agricultural modeling, as well as practical applications in organic farming and climate-adaptive agriculture.

This Special Issue provides a platform for advancing both the mechanistic understanding and system-level evaluations of biofertilizers, supporting their role in developing low-input, efficient, and resilient agricultural systems. This Special Issue will showcase innovative, cutting-edge research that addresses key challenges in biofertilizer applications and their integration into sustainable agricultural practices.

Dr. Jayakumar Bose
Dr. Yanbo Wang
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

  • biofertilizers
  • organic amendments
  • soil microbiome
  • plant–microbe interactions
  • nutrient use efficiency
  • agricultural systems modeling
  • sustainable agriculture

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 6844 KB  
Article
Legume Green Manure Further Improves the Effects of Fertilization on the Long-Term Yield and Water and Nitrogen Utilization of Winter Wheat in Rainfed Agriculture
by Xiushuang Li, Juan Chen, Jianglan Shi and Xiaohong Tian
Plants 2025, 14(16), 2476; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants14162476 - 9 Aug 2025
Viewed by 418
Abstract
Context: To revive the practice of planting legume green manure (GM) in the fallow period in rainfed agricultural areas, it is essential to demonstrate the benefits of this practice on the yields and water use efficiency (WUE) of subsequent crops, especially when integrating [...] Read more.
Context: To revive the practice of planting legume green manure (GM) in the fallow period in rainfed agricultural areas, it is essential to demonstrate the benefits of this practice on the yields and water use efficiency (WUE) of subsequent crops, especially when integrating with optimized water and fertilizer management. Objectives: We conducted a field experiment to determine the positive effects of planting legume GM in the summer fallow on the yield, WUE, and nitrogen uptake efficiency (NupE) of subsequent winter wheat, which was grown with plastic film mulching and integrated fertilization in the Loess Plateau of China. Methods: A split-plot-designed experiment was arranged with two main treatments, namely (1) wheat planting followed by GM planting in the summer fallow (GM) and (2) conventional wheat monoculture followed by bare land summer fallow (BL), and three sub-treatments: (1) control treatment without any chemical fertilizer (Ct), (2) application of chemical N, P, and K as basal fertilizer (B), and (3) application of basal fertilizer plus wheat straw return (BS). Results: In the initial two years, even in a dry year, GM did not decrease the soil water content and storage (0–200 cm layer) during the subsequent winter wheat season, relative to BL. But in the third and fourth years, GM increased the grain yield of winter wheat by 3.2% and 3.8%, respectively. B and BS increased the grain yield of winter wheat by 14.4% and 22.2%, respectively, during the third experimental year, and by 12.7% and 19.4% during the fourth experimental year, primarily through increasing the population density of winter wheat. The increase in the grain yield contributed to a higher WUE of winter wheat. In the third year, GM increased the water consumption (WC) and WUE of wheat by 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively, though they were far lower than B (8.3% and 5.6%) and BS (10.4% and 10.7%). B and BS resulted in a higher yield and N nutrition than GM alone, but GM combined with B and BS resulted in the highest yield and N nutrition, thus greatly decreasing the NupE and increasing N productivity. Conclusions: Planting legume GM in the fallow can further increase the long-term yield, WUE, and N utilization of winter wheat when integrated with chemical fertilization and wheat straw return in rainfed agriculture. Implications: Our study yields new insights into the agronomic benefits of legume GM application in semi-arid or analogous rainfed agroecosystems and underscores the critical role of water conservation in ensuring dryland agricultural production, particularly in regions undergoing optimization of fertilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biofertilizers for Plant Growth Enhancement and Sustainable Agriculture)
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