Plant Volatiles as Multifunctional Mediators: Bridging the Lab-Field Gap in Sustainable Pest Management
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 218
Special Issue Editors
Interests: pest management and plant protection; edible insect; analytical chemistry of agrochemicals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant volatiles; insect-plant interactions; HIPVs; floral scents
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plants normally emit a bouquet of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of low molecular weight, lipophilic character and high volatility, and these compounds easily diffuse over distances ranging from centimeters to a few hundred meters away from the source in nature. Plant volatiles mainly include terpenoids, benzenoids/phenylpropanoids, fatty-acid-derived compounds and microbially modified metabolites, which are central to ecological communication, serving as chemical languages that shape tripartite interactions among plants, insects and microorganisms. First, plant VOCs are the principal cues used by insects to forage host and mate, and they also use them to avoid competition and danger. Second, they play a crucial and multifaceted role in plant–microorganism interactions, influencing both beneficial and harmful relationships in terms of agricultural production. Last, but not least, plant VOCs mediate widespread plant–plant communications.
This Special Issue aims to cover a range of topics dedicated to plant volatiles, such as multitrophic interactions influenced by plant volatiles, the genomics of VOC biosynthesis pathways, olfactory perception, host selection and location, volatile-based attract-and-kill systems, the ecological scalability of volatile applications, climate change impacts on VOC-mediated interactions, AI-assisted volatile compound screening, the development of VOC-based precision pest management, slow-release carriers and microbial consortia engineering for enhanced plant immunity. This Special Issue aims to collect manuscripts on the aforementioned topics to inspire more ideas for agriculture and forestry applications.
Dr. Yu Gao
Dr. Hao Xu
Dr. Shan Jin
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- biotic stress
- plant-insect communication
- plant-microorganism communication
- plant-plant communication
- odor diversity
- plant volatiles
- essential oils
- olfactory perception
- biosynthesis
- kairomone
- field trials
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