Biocontrol Agents for Sustainable Plant Disease 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: 31 March 2026
Special Issue Editor
Interests: phytopathology; food science; plant–microbe interactions; microbiology; biological control; plant disease resistance; nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The application of pesticides for disease control in agriculture is a common practice worldwide that guarantees crop quality; however, their use can pose a significant risk to ecosystems and human and animal health. Given the growing concern for producing food without harming the planet and its living components, other alternatives for controlling plant pathogens now exist, such as the application of microorganisms as biocontrol agents (BCAs), which include bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and actinomycetes, among others. BCAs have demonstrated high efficiency in in vitro and in vivo studies compared to synthetic pesticides for controlling plant pathogens. The incorporation of BCAs into agricultural production schemes is a global challenge; however, their role as an important component of sustainable agriculture will contribute to food sovereignty. This Special Issue seeks to provide an overview of the most recent advances in the use of BCAs for globally important plant pathogens and their potential incorporation into crop agronomic management.
Dr. Luis Guillermo Hernández-Montiel
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 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
- phytopatogens
- BCAs
- pesticides
- antagonistic microorganism
- in vitro and in vivo studies
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