Call for Papers
- Plant breeding- and genetics-based tools for food security under changing climate
- Abiotic stress tolerance in crops vs climate change: outlook of physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms
Guest Editors: Sajid Fiaz, PhD The University of Haripur; Muhammad Jawad Umer, PhD Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Hafiz Husnain Nawaz, PhD Free University of Bozen Bolzano.
Global food security is increasingly challenging in light of population increase, the impact of climate change on crop production, and limited land available for agricultural expansion. Approximately 10,000 years ago plant breeding emerged as central approach for plant domestication and selection of desirable traits for number of generations to improve both quality and productivity. The breeding techniques normally consist of three stages: hybridization, line fixation and field trials to select best performing lines having premium yield and quality. However, conventional breeding strategies for crop improvement are of limited use because of genetic drag, genetic erosion, hybridization bottlenecks, and laborious selection process. In addition, the complexities of different cultural or geographic systems, combined with changing needs, technologies and environments have made the application of broad, universal solutions for sustained food security difficult. According to the World Food Programme, 135 million suffer from acute hunger largely due to man-made conflicts, climate change and economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic could now double that number, putting an additional 130 million people at risk of suffering acute hunger. Therefore, modern plant breeding approaches e.g., marker assisted selection, genomic selection, QTL mapping, functional genomics, genetic engineering, genome editing, de-novo domestication and OMICs are powerful tools at our disposal and have contributed significantly for attaining sustainable agriculture under ever changing climate conditions, including involvement of new breeding and genetics based strategies to obtain climate resilient varieties and crops that have high yield potential, yield stability, and superior grain quality and nutrition; nevertheless, limiting water consumption and reducing the use of fertilizer and chemicals. In this topical collection, a wide range of topics will be covered, including conventional and non-conventional plant breeding approaches, marker-assisted selection, genomic region analysis, mutation breeding, OMICs, epigenetics, genotyping by sequencing, nanotechnology, and breeding techniques for climate smart crops to improve agricultural production systems for achieving the United Nations second sustainable development goal of zero hunger
We invite researchers to contribute original research articles, reviews, short reviews and technical papers on the following topics, but not limited to:
- Analysis of plant genetic variability based on agronomic and morpho-physiological traits
- Heterosis breeding
- Novel traits development through plant breeding and genetics for climate resilient crops
- QTL mapping and their functional validation
- Mutation breeding for novel trait development
- Genetic selection in plant breeding
- Genome wide association analysis for biotic and abiotic stress resistance
- OMICs based intervention for crop improvement
- Designing future crops in the era of genomic sequencing
- Genome editing for achieving food security
Full papers should be submitted through the online journal management system ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Deadline for manuscript submission: 20 June 2024
Guest Editors: Dr Mohd. Kamran Khan, Selcuk University, Turkey; Dr Enrico Francia, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Abiotic stresses including drought, heat, cold, salinity and nutrients stress are among the major factors that negatively affect the crop growth and yield. The constant climate change enhances the devastating impact of these stresses. In such scenarios, it is crucial to find ways that can enhance the adaptation of crops to such environment, reducing the damaging effects on plants. To develop such methods, it is necessary to understand the physiological, biochemical and molecular responses of plants towards different abiotic stresses. The molecules involved in these responses can lead to novel pathways facilitating the development of stress tolerant genotypes.
This special issue is an effort in this direction inviting research and review articles on the following topics but not limited to:
- Molecular signaling in plants under abiotic stress conditions
- Different ‘OMICS’ approaches for improving abiotic stress tolerance in crops
- Oxidative stress due to reactive oxygen species and antioxidant defence mechanisms in crops under abiotic stress
- Differential regulation of genes in response to physiological, biochemical and molecular changes in plants under abiotic stresses
- Molecular mechanism behind combined abiotic stress tolerance in plants
- Wild species and genetic resources as a hope for the development of abiotic stress tolerance
- Transgenics and CRISPR: Modern strategies for alleviation of effects of abiotic stresses
Full papers should be submitted through the online journal management system ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Deadline for manuscript submission: 30 June 2024
