Plant-Associated Microbial Communities and Plant Protection

Dear Colleagues,

The importance of microbial root inhabitants for plant growth and health was already recognized 100 years ago. Since that time, much has been learned about microorganisms and their close symbiotic relationship with plants. Comparable to humans and other eukaryotic hosts, plants also may be realized as meta-organism that harbors a “second genome”. The plant-associated microbes, collectively known as the plant microbiome, can help plants fend off disease, stimulate growth, occupy space that would otherwise be taken up by pathogens, promote stress resistance, and influence crop yield and quality. Therefore, the plant microbiome is a key determinant of plant health and productivity and can be used for plant protection as well. These advances in knowledge were driven by both “omics”-technologies, guided by next-generation sequencing and microscopic insights. Plant microbiome discoveries could fuel progress in sustainable agriculture, such as the development of microbial inoculants as biofertilizers, biocontrol, or stress protection products. Moreover, they can be integrated in breeding strategies and agricultural management strategies.

This Special Issue will focus on "Plant-Associated Microbial Communities and Plant Protection". We welcome novel research, reviews and opinion pieces covering all related topics, including plant microbiome studies, novel screening methods for beneficial micro-organisms, mode of action and interaction studies, the topic of breeding and cultivar-specific microbiomes, management solutions, modeling and predictable plant protection, case-studies from the field, and risk assessment studies.

Prof. Dr. Gabriele Berg
Dr. Daria Rybakova
Dr. Christin Zachow
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

• plant microbiome
• biocontrol
• PGPR
• antagonist
• plant pathogens
• omics technologies