Plants

Plants publishes Special Issues to create collections of papers on specific topics, with the aim of building a community of authors and readers to discuss the latest research and develop new ideas and research directions. Special Issues are led by Guest Editors, who are experts on the topic and all Special Issue submissions follow MDPI's standard editorial process. The journal’s Editor-in-Chief and/or designated Editorial Board Member will oversee Guest Editor appointments and Special Issue proposals, checking their content for relevance and ensuring the suitability of the material for the journal. The papers published in a Special Issue will be collected and displayed on a dedicated page of the journal’s website. Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies and Guest Editor responsibilities can be found here. For any inquiries related to a Special Issue, please contact the Editorial Office.

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Barley—a Versatile Crop for Innovative and Sustainable Food Production (2nd Edition)

edited by

Jasmina Lukinac

and

Marko Jukić

submission deadline 30 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 28 | Submission Open

Keywords: barley; sustainable food production; cultivar breeding; nutritional composition; functional food ingredient; quality assessment; bioactive compounds; brewing and malting; environmental impact; consumer preferences

(This special issue belongs to the Section Crop Physiology and Crop Production)

Insect Frass Fertilisers for Plant Growth, Development, and Stress Tolerance

edited by

Simon Hodge

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 74 | Submission Open

Keywords: circular economy; insect farming; insect frass; plant defence; plant nutrition; soil additives; soil microbiome; stress tolerance; sustainable farming; waste bioconversion

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions)

Physiological Responses of Microalgae and Macroalgae to Environmental Stress

edited by

Paula S.M. Celis-Plá

and

Pablo Castro-Varela

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 42 | Submission Open

Keywords: photophysiology (chlorophyll fluorescence; NPQ); oxidative stress and photoprotection responses; carbon-concentrating mechanisms; thermal tolerance; transcriptomics and metabolomics responses

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change)

Molecular Regulatory Mechanisms of Crop Salt Tolerance

edited by

Liangbo Fu

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 40 | Submission Open

Keywords: salt stress response; ion homeostasis; functional genomics; signal transduction; gene editing in crops; stress-responsive genes

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change)

The Physiology of Abiotic Stress in Plants—2nd Edition

edited by

Daniela Romano

submission deadline 31 Oct 2026 | Viewed by 11 | Submission Open

Keywords: gas exchange; chlorophyll fluorescence; oxidative stress; signal transduction; technical means; biostimulants

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change)

Seed Biology and Its Role in Ecosystems

edited by

Božena Šerá

submission deadline 20 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 143 | Submission Open

Keywords: seeds; dormancy; embryo; storage reserves; dispersal; germination; ecology; biology

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Molecular Biology)

Water and Nitrogen Management in Soil–Crop Systems—4th Edition

edited by

Puyu Feng

and

Kelin Hu

submission deadline 20 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 21 | Submission Open

Keywords: crop yield; cropping system; irrigation scheduling; irrigation method; water use efficiency; nitrogen management; nitrogen losses; nitrogen use efficiency; modeling; decision-making; climate change

(This special issue belongs to the Section Crop Physiology and Crop Production)

Biotic and Abiotic Stresses: Epigenetic and Transcriptional Control of Plant Adaptation

edited by

Sarfraz Shafiq

Emilie Widemann

and

Muhammad Imran

submission deadline 30 Nov 2026 | Viewed by 28 | Submission Open

Keywords: plant stress responses; biotic stress; abiotic stress; transcriptional regulation; gene expression; epigenetic regulation; histone; chromatin; omics approaches; plant adaptation

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change)

Precision Control of Transcriptional Networks: Decoding Genetic Circuits for Enhanced Crop Resilience and Yield

edited by

Bohan Liu

and Wenyi Wang

submission deadline 30 Dec 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1697 | Submission Open

Keywords: transcription factors; stress adaptation; crop improvement; yield improvement; CRISPR/cas

(This special issue belongs to the Section Crop Physiology and Crop Production)

Plant–Microbe Interactions: Unlocking Adaptive Strategies for Nutrient Efficiency and Stress Resilience

edited by

Hafiz Athar Hussain

and

Daofeng Liu

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | 2 articles | Viewed by 1691 | Submission Open

Keywords: plant-microbe interactions; nutrient uptake efficiency; stress tolerance; root exudates; molecular signalling; soil microbiome engineering

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant–Soil Interactions)

Plant Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolutionary Genomics IV

edited by

Alex Troitsky

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 228 | Submission Open

Keywords: molecular phylogeny; phylogenomics; phylotranscriptomics; chloroplast genome; mitochomdrial genome; evolutionary genomics; metagenomics; DNA barcoding; bioinformatics

Plant–Biostimulant Interactions for Improving Vegetable Crop Performance Under Stress

edited by

Mariateresa Cardarelli

and

Monica Yorlady Alzate Zuluaga

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 187 | Submission Open

Keywords: plant biostimulants; stress resilience; vegetable crops; plant– microbe interactions; sustainable agriculture; nutrient efficiency; rhizosphere biology; abiotic stress mitigation; crop performance enhancement; natural bioactive compounds; microbial inoculants; predictive models in agriculture; climate-smart agriculture; biostimulant– plant mechanisms

(This special issue belongs to the Section Horticultural Science and Ornamental Plants)

Plant, Soil, and Microbial Interactions Under Climate Change: Responses, Consequences, and Perspectives

edited by

Luca Vitale

Anna Tedeschi

Francisco Garcia-Sanchez

and Fatma Wassar

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 134 | Submission Open

Keywords: rhizosphere; soil ecology; soil conservation; plant physiology; signalling compounds; soil resilience; beneficial microbes; climate change

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant–Soil Interactions)

Crop Modeling in Agriculture

edited by Moussa El Jarroudi and

Rachid Lahlali

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 127 | Submission Open

Keywords: crop modeling; precision agriculture; climate-smart agriculture; plant disease forecasting; remote sensing; decision support systems; agro-ecological simulation; yield prediction; resilience modeling; sustainable food systems

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Modeling)

Resilient Plants and Algae: New Environmental Challenges and Innovative Technological Approaches

edited by

Simone Landi

and

Daniela Castiglia

submission deadline 31 Dec 2026 | Viewed by 69 | Submission Open

Keywords: plant stress; microalgae; extremophiles; abiotic; biotic; microplastic; tolerance; landraces; food safety; environment; genetic engineering; biotechnology

(This special issue belongs to the Section Plant Response to Abiotic Stress and Climate Change)

Single-Cell Multi-Omics in Plant Development and Stress Response

edited by Xiaofeng Gu,