Germplasm Resource Identification and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Agriculture is fundamental to society, while seeds are the most important aspect of agriculture. Germplasm resources are the basis of genetic material for plant breeding and crop improvement. Germplasm resources can be better enhanced, and genetic information can be completely understood by germplasm identification. Furthermore, in certain technologies, including heterosis utilization, genotyping, marker-assisted selection, high-throughput phenotyping, molecular design breeding and gene editing, and genomic selection could provide a constant driving force for innovating and expanding germplasm resources. In addition, the development of new methods for upgrading and innovating germplasms, which is vital for accelerating the procedure of breeding innovation and developing modern agriculture, should be encouraged and widely studied by more researchers.

In order to make better use of the germplasms of horticultural crops and promote the development and innovation of breeding technology, Horticulturae is launching a Special Issue on the topic of germplasm identification and genetic improvements of horticultural crops and is beginning to collect necessary high-quality articles.

This Special Issue is entitled, ‘Germplasm Resource Identification and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops—2nd Edition’. The topics of submissions to this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

• Accurate identification of the germplasm resources of relevant horticultural crops, deeply understanding the characteristics of different varieties of the same species, and making better use of germplasm resources;
• Utilization of heterosis methods (utilization of self-incompatibility, utilization of male sterile lines, etc.) to generate new excellent cultivars;
• Applications of molecular breeding technology, including gene editing, which can improve horticultural crops and improve adaptability;
• Development of speed breeding and other new technologies for improving germplasms which provide faster and more precise strategies for the breeder.

We sincerely welcome all colleagues in the horticultural industry to contribute manuscripts and share your research progress and general academic views on germplasm resource identification and the genetic improvement of horticultural crops. This Special Issue will accept research papers and reviews related to this subject. We are looking forward to your excellent contributions to Horticulturae.

Prof. Dr. Liwang Liu
Prof. Dr. Yangyong Zhang
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. Horticulturae 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 2200 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.

• germplasm resources
• precise identification of germplasm resources
• heterosis
• speed breeding
• gene editing
• genomic selection
• marker-assisted selection

• Germplasm Resource Identification and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crop in Horticulturae (9 articles)