Biotic Lines of Defence for Plant Disease Suppression in Soils

Dear Colleagues,

Global wellbeing depends on functioning soil systems and enhancement of the services provided by soils as the basis of food production and food security. The diversity of soil organisms drives many processes that contribute to healthy, functioning soils. However, soil-borne diseases, caused by bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, and nematodes, are major factors limiting production and are often difficult to manage.

The aggressive management of soil borne diseases in the past, through the use of fumigation, and practices that degrade soil functions and soil biological diversity, is less acceptable for global food and fiber production. With the increase in knowledge and techniques to understand soil biological interactions, there is a greater opportunity to enhance the suppression of soil-borne diseases without the need for aggressive soil management.

This Special Issue aims to capture advances in soil-borne disease management through specific and general suppression, and through the interactions of plants and microorganisms with soil-borne pathogens. There have been advances in the knowledge of metabolites produced by specific soil organisms to reduce the invasion of plants by pathogens. Furthermore, progress has been made at a sub-cellular level, with an increase in the knowledge that soil organisms have in preparing plant defenses. There is also a growing awareness that soil management practices influence soil organisms and the microbiome, which affect the suppressiveness of soil-borne pathogens and the general health of the soil. 

This Special Issue of enhancing the biotic lines of defense for soil-borne disease suppression invites submissions on the topics:

1. Enhancing specific suppression of soil-borne diseases and pathogens including biocontrol organisms;
2. Enhancing general suppression of soil-borne diseases and pathogens, including understanding microbial networks and soil management practices;
3. Enhancing plant defenses to soil-borne pathogens, including the understanding of how soil organisms stimulate plant defense to increase disease tolerance;
4. Understanding plant–microbe–pathogen interactions to reduce the impact of soil-borne diseases and pathogens, including microbial signaling and the production of root exudates.

Dr. Tony Pattison
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. 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.

• bacterial pathogens
• biological control
• biological diversity
• farm management fungal pathogens
• general suppression
• induced systemic resistance
• metabolites
• microbial interactions
• microbiomes
• Oomycete pathogen
• plant defense signaling
• plant-parasitic nematodes
• root exudates
• soil biodiversity
• soil-borne pathogens
• soil health
• specific suppression
• volatile organic compounds