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Enhancing Crop Yield and Adaptability through Sustainable Soil Management: Effective and Eco-Friendly Practices

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant–Soil Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 2315

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Dimitrios Bilalis

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Agronomy, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Interests: agronomy; organic agriculture; certification; soil management; weed management; environmental impact of agriculture

Dr. Ioannis Roussis

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Agronomy, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Interests: agronomy; crop science; organic agriculture; fertilization; weeds; tillage; feed crops; alternative crops; industrial crops; sustainable agriculture; medicinal plants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ioanna Kakabouki

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Agronomy, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Interests: fertilization; organic agriculture; weed management; tillage; novel crops
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The rapid growth of the global population has led to the construction of new residential colonies on fertile agricultural lands, resulting in a significant decline in crop-production areas. A number of biotic and abiotic stresses are also being attributed to abrupt changes in regional and global climates, which pose a threat to agricultural production. As a result of this situation, sustainable agricultural production is required on the available cultivated lands. In order to maintain crop production, a number of effective and eco-friendly management practices are employed, including minimum/no tillage, legume-based crop rotation, manuring, balanced fertilizer applications, cover crops, cropping patterns, irrigation techniques, etc. Reduced/no tillage along with the inclusion of legumes in crop rotation; application of on-farm inputs, such as manure, compost, and vermicompost; intercropping of leguminous crops with commercially exhaustive crops such as cereals; fallow period management; and the use of bacteria and fungi to increase the efficiency of nutrient use by crops are all viable and sustainable techniques to maintain soil life, improve fertility, and feed plants. These techniques promote sustainable agriculture by ensuring sufficient production of high-quality crops.

In this Special Issue, authors are invited to submit articles on recent scientific advances in soil fertility and crop-production management for enhancing soil health, crop yield, and their adaptability under sustainable agriculture. We welcome novel research, reviews, and opinion papers covering all related topics that enhance our understanding of new agricultural practices that improve and maintain a high level of soil fertility; new methods and technologies for crop fertilization; new sources and processes for providing high-quality crop products without adverse impacts on the soil; as well as the use of plant cover and/or crop associations.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Dimitrios Bilalis
Dr. Ioannis Roussis
Dr. Ioanna Kakabouki
Guest Editors

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

soil quality
soil fertility
organic carbon
plant nutrition
integrated nutrient management
nutrient interactions
reduced/no tillage agriculture
compost
biostimulants
organic fertilizers
arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
crop residues
crop rotation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2631 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Delayed Leaf Senescence Improves Radiation Use Efficiency and Explains Yield Advantage of Large Panicle-Type Hybrid Rice

by Jun Deng, Tian Sheng, Xuefen Zhong, Jiayu Ye, Chunhu Wang, Liying Huang, Xiaohai Tian, Ke Liu and Yunbo Zhang

Plants 2023, 12(23), 4063; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12234063 - 3 Dec 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 855

Abstract

Super hybrid rice with predominantly large panicle types has achieved remarkable success in enhancing crop yield. However, when compared with multi-panicle-type varieties, the yield stability of large panicle-type varieties remains a challenge, and limited information is available on the comparative advantages of multi-panicle types. Consequently, a two-year experiment was conducted to evaluate the grain yield, biomass production, leaf area index (LAI), and radiation use efficiency (RUE) of large panicle-type hybrid rice (Y-liangyou 900, YLY900) and multi-panicle-type hybrid rice (C-liangyouhuazhan, CLYHZ) under three nitrogen (N) treatments (0, 180, 270 kg N ha⁻¹). The effects of increased N fertilization were more pronounced in the large panicle-type varieties. YLY900 outperformed CLYHZ in terms of average yield (6% higher), and its yield advantage was attributed to higher spikelets per panicle (28%). Due to YLY900’s RUE being 9% higher than CLYHZ, it results in a 12% greater accumulation of dry matter than CLYHZ. Furthermore, YLY900 exhibited significant improvements of 16%, 4%, and 14% in specific leaf weight, effective leaf area ratio, and LAI at 20 days after the heading stage (20DAH), respectively, compared with CLYHZ. YLY900 also demonstrated a stronger correlation between rice yield and intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (IPAR) compared with CLYHZ, with R² values of 0.80 and 0.66, respectively. These findings highlight the superior performance of YLY900, resulting from higher light interception percentage (IP) and IPAR values, which consequently led to enhanced RUE and grain yield. Our research reveals that delayed leaf senescence by increasing LAI at the post-heading stage for large panicle-type hybrid rice, thereby contributing to greater RUE, led to higher biomass production and grain yield. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Crop Yield and Adaptability through Sustainable Soil Management: Effective and Eco-Friendly Practices)

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Review

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16 pages, 1395 KiB

Open AccessReview

Alternative Crops for the European Tobacco Industry: A Systematic Review

by Antonios Mavroeidis, Panteleimon Stavropoulos, George Papadopoulos, Aikaterini Tsela, Ioannis Roussis and Ioanna Kakabouki

Plants 2024, 13(2), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13020236 - 15 Jan 2024

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Abstract

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) is a major industrial crop that has being cultivated for centuries for the manufacturing of cigarettes, cigars, and other smoking products. Due to its negative effects on both human health and the environment, the European Union has adopted strict policies that aspire to reduce the consumption of tobacco. Herbal cigarettes are alternative smoking products that are often advertised as healthier than conventional tobacco cigarettes and are especially popular in Asian markets. Even though the available literature suggests that they are equally detrimental to human health, the introduction of tobacco-alternative crops (TACs) to the European tobacco industry could smoothen the abandonment of tobacco, and eventually smoking products altogether, in the EU. The aim of the present systematic review was to compile a list of possible TACs that could be incorporated in the European smoking industry, and highlight their strengths and weaknesses. The most dominant crops in the literature (and in the existing market products) were calendula (Calendula officinalis L.), mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.), ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A.Mey.), tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze), chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.), and mentha (Mentha spp.). Even though these crops are promising, further research is required for their incorporation in the European tobacco industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhancing Crop Yield and Adaptability through Sustainable Soil Management: Effective and Eco-Friendly Practices)

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