Origins, Biodiversity and Protection of Horticultural Plants: Latest Advances and Prospects

Dear Colleagues,

Horticulture, both a science and an art, deals with intensive crops of high-value plants. Horticultural crops include food plants such as vegetables, fruits and nuts, but also spices and medicinal plants, and flowers and other ornamental plants. The origins of horticulture involve the intensification of agricultural activities, the emergence of home gardens and the domestication of numerous plant species.

Domestication is the slow adaptation of a plant from a wild state to life in close association with humans, over centuries and with input from thousands of farmers. Horticultural plant biodiversity contributes to the cultural, historical and economic viability of rural areas and is part of Human Heritage.

Since the 1960s, the green revolution has produced a significant increase in agricultural productivity and food availability, but also led to the loss of thousands of traditional varieties and a higher uniformity of crops. In situ and ex situ conservation of remaining horticultural diversity is essential. Presently, the global change threatens most horticultural areas through changing rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, variability in seasonality, and extreme weather events. In this context, the sustainability of horticultural crops is essential and requires techniques, crops and varieties better adapted to the changing environment.

This Special Issue of Horticulturae, "Origins, Biodiversity and Protection of Horticultural Plants: Latest Advances and Prospects", aims to illustrate horticultural biodiversity, its origins, conservation and new perspectives under global change. This Special Issue accepts contributions that cover research aspects related to horticultural plants, and a number of scientific macro-areas, such as agronomy, ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology, history, botany and ecology. Original research and review papers are welcome. Papers chosen for publication will be selected by a rigorous peer-review procedure with the aim of rapid dissemination of the research results.

Key topics in this Special Issue include but are not limited to the following:

• Agrobiodiversity of horticultural plants and related wild species;
• Conservation of cultivated plants and their wild relatives;
• Crop evolution;
• Crop–weed relationships;
• Ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology of horticultural plants;
• Germplasm banks;
• History of horticultural plants;
• Home gardens;
• Horticultural plants and cultural heritage;
• Ex situ horticultural plants conservation;
• In situ horticultural plants conservation;
• Palaeoethnobotany and archaeobotany of horticultural plants;
• Plant Domestication;
• Underutilized crops.

Prof. Dr. Concepción Obon
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. 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.

• diversity
• conservation
• underutilized crops
• agroecology
• domestication
• ethnobotany