Evaluation of Stress Factors in Crops’ Life

Dear Colleagues,

Crops require suitable growing conditions for their optimal productivity. Crops’ optimal productivity is a crucial component to meet the needs of human population growth. Thus, it is important to know how crops react to different stress growing conditions. Stress conditions can be caused by abiotic and biotic factors. Abiotic stressors include extreme temperatures, insufficient light conditions, ultraviolet radiation, ozone, salinity, floods, drought, heavy metals, acidic or alkaline soil pH, nutrient deficiencies, and agrochemicals (fertilizers, plant protectants), while biotic stressors are insects, herbivores, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and weeds. When crops are exposed to any biotic and abiotic stress conditions, they respond through changed physiological, molecular, and metabolic processes, e.g., protein and metabolite production, activation of gene expression, signaling cascades (or transduction pathways), and enhanced free radical production. Therefore, changes in crops’ antioxidant defense system, protein, and metabolite production are more important than ever, because the impacts of humans influence the effectiveness of agricultural production.

Manuscripts submitted to this Special Issue should report original research data and reviews related to plants’ responses to stressors. This issue mainly focuses on crops, but other kinds of test plants are also welcome. In addition, multidisciplinary studies, including systems biology, molecular biology, genetic, physiological, and biochemical approaches, are also appreciated. The Guest Editor kindly asks scientists to submit their original research or review articles related to the following topics below, or others that are not listed but relevant:

• Influence of heavy metal and aluminum toxicity on crops’ productivity, oxidative damage, and antioxidant defense system;
• Stress response of crops, changes in antioxidant metabolism, and plant tolerance to adverse environmental conditions;
• Effect of industrial production and byproducts on crops;
• Examination of the impacts of alternative nutrient supply materials on crops;
• Influence on water imbalance, drought stress, and unsustainable water management on crops;
• Effects of water and/or soil salinity on crops;
• Effects of extreme temperatures (high and low) on crops;
• Impacts of ozone, UV radiation, and insufficient light conditions on crops;
• Effects of biostimulants/biofertilizers on crops;
• Effects of biostimulants/biofertilizers on the antioxidative system of abiotic and/or biotic stressed crop plants.

Dr. Brigitta Tóth
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-anonymized 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.