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Agronomy
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Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under...
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Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 24588

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Subhan Danish

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Guest Editor
Department of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: soil science; plant nutrition; biofertilizers; heavymetal; biocomposites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Pawan Kumar Mishra

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE), Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska1, 61300 Brno, Czech Republic
Interests: lignocelluloses biomass; bioeconomy; bioprocess and bioproducts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Shabir Hussain

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan
Interests: agronomy; biofertilizers; organic agriculture; abiotic stress; plant physiology
Prof. Dr. Suleyman Taban

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey
Interests: plant breeding; plant physiology; abiotic stress tolerance; agriculture; salt-tolerance; stress physiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Abiotic stresses, i.e., drought, salinity, sodicity, and heavy metals, are severe threats to agricultural crops productivity. On the other hand, the increasing world population is inducing a burden on agriculture for food availability. Different remediation technologies have mostly encountered various hurdles. However, a deep understanding of plant–microbial symbiosis is a better approach because of its environmentally friendly nature. In recent years, the inoculation of mycorrhizal fungi and rhizobacteria has been gaining researcher attention. These microorganisms can create a symbiotic relationship with the plant. Beneficial activities such as better nutrients and water uptake, root elongation by hormonal secretions, precipitation/chelation of toxic ions and ethylene regulation are potential characteristics of beneficial microorganisms that play an imperative role in crop growth enhancement under abiotic stresses. Furthermore, limited literature is available on the relationship of agronomic practices (mulching, tillage, weeding, fertilizer, irrigation and sowing methods etc.) with symbiosis. This Special Issue will help to cover the knowledge gaps of the mechanism involved in the remediation of abiotic stresses in crops by beneficial soil microbes. Therefore, we invite researchers to contribute to the Special Issue on“Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis and Agronomic Practices Towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity Under Abiotic Stresses”, which is intended to cover broad aspects of symbiosis in relation to agronomic practices on crops growth and productivity under abiotic stresses.

Dr. Subhan Danish
Dr. Pawan Kumar Mishra
Prof. Dr. Shabir Hussain
Prof. Dr. Suleyman Taban
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. 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.

Keywords

  • abiotic stresses
  • biofertilizers, crops productivity
  • lignocelluloses biomass
  • bioproducts
  • bioeconomy
  • symbiosis
  • compost
  • biochar
  • manure
  • biocontrol
  • mulching
  • tillage
  • micronutrients
  • macronutrients

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 2560 KiB  
Article
Effect of Different Levels of Zinc and Compost on Yield and Yield Components of Wheat
by Khadim Dawar, Wajid Ali, Hamida Bibi, Ishaq Ahmad Mian, Mian Afaq Ahmad, Muhammad Baqir Hussain, Muqarrab Ali, Shamsher Ali, Shah Fahad, Saeed ur Rehman, Rahul Datta, Asad Syed and Subhan Danish
Agronomy 2022, 12(7), 1562; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12071562 - 29 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2133
Abstract
Management of organic matter and micronutrients is very important for the sustainable improvement of soil health. Poor soil organic matter usually results in lower availability of zinc (Zn) micronutrients in plants. Such deficiency in Zn causes a significant decrease in the growth and [...] Read more.
Management of organic matter and micronutrients is very important for the sustainable improvement of soil health. Poor soil organic matter usually results in lower availability of zinc (Zn) micronutrients in plants. Such deficiency in Zn causes a significant decrease in the growth and yield of crops. The need at the current time is to balance the application of organic amendments with Zn micronutrients to achieve optimum crop yields. Thus, the current study was conducted to investigate wheat, using compost as organic matter and Zn as a micronutrient. There were three levels of compost (i.e., control (0C), 5 t/ha (5C) and 10 t/ha (10C)) and four levels of Zn (control (0Zn), 2.5 kg Zn/ha (2.5Zn), 5.0 kg Zn/ha (5.0Zn) and 10.0 kg Zn/ha (10.0Zn)) applied with three replicates. The addition of 10C under 10.0Zn produced significantly better results for the maximum enhancement in plant height (8.08%), tillers/m2 (21.61%), spikes/m2 (22.33%) and spike length (40.50%) compared to 0C. Significant enhancements in 1000-grain weight, biological yield and grain yield also validated the effectiveness of 10C under 10.0Zn compared to 0C. In conclusion, application of 10C with 10.0Zn showed the potential to improve wheat growth and yield attributes. The addition of 10C with 10.0Zn also regulated soil mineral N, total soil N and extractable soil P. Further investigation is recommended with different soil textures to verify 10C with 10.0Zn as the best amendment for the enhancement of wheat yield in poor organic matter and Zn-deficient soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress)
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14 pages, 2512 KiB  
Article
Carbohydrate Partitioning, Growth and Ionic Compartmentalisation of Wheat Grown under Boron Toxic and Salt Degraded Land
by Tayyaba Naz, Muhammad Mazhar Iqbal, Javaid Akhtar, Muhammad Saqib, Muqarrab Ali, Mazhar Iqbal Zafar, Bernard Dell, Rahul Datta, Mohammad Javed Ansari, Subhan Danish and Shah Fahad
Agronomy 2022, 12(3), 740; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12030740 - 20 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2275
Abstract
Cultivation of crops in salt-affected soils is a major challenge for growers. Despite the use of multiple amendments, salinity stresses adversely affect the crops to some extent. On the other hand, imbalance in the use of boron (B) as a nutrient also creates [...] Read more.
Cultivation of crops in salt-affected soils is a major challenge for growers. Despite the use of multiple amendments, salinity stresses adversely affect the crops to some extent. On the other hand, imbalance in the use of boron (B) as a nutrient also creates toxicity. Mismanagement of B fertilizer application decreases the growth and yield of crops. It is necessary to study in depth the adverse effects of salinity and B toxicity. This is why the current research work was conducted in a glass house at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia. The aim of study was to investigate the influence of salinity and B toxicity on carbohydrate partitioning, growth, and ionic composition of two Australian wheat varieties. There were four treatments, i.e., control, high B (15 kg ha−1), salinity (15 dS m−1), and B + salinity. The results showed that the salt-tolerant Halberd (HB) variety accumulated more Na+, B, and Cl− in their leaf sheath and kept the leaf blades free of these toxic ions as compared to the sensitive variety Westonia (WS). Water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC; i.e., glucose, sucrose, fructose, and fructans) concentration increased in response to individual as well as combined constrains of soil salinity and toxic B in the leaf blade of both tolerant and sensitive wheat varieties, but the increase was higher in the tolerant variety as compared to the sensitive one. The concentration of WSCs in leaf sheath of the salt-tolerant wheat variety was increased in response to stress conditions, but those remained low in salt-sensitive ones. Therefore, the salt-tolerant HB genotype was found to be a good source for future wheat breeding programs or to be grown by farmers in B toxic, saline, and B toxic–saline conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress)
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15 pages, 824 KiB  
Article
Effect of Plant Spacings on Growth, Physiology, Yield and Fiber Quality Attributes of Cotton Genotypes under Nitrogen Fertilization
by Ishrat Zaman, Muqarrab Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Muhammad Saeed Tahir, Amar Matloob, Wazir Ahmad, Saud Alamri, Muhammad Rizwan Khurshid, Muhammad Mubashir Qureshi, Allah Wasaya, Khurram Shehzad Baig, Manzer H. Siddiqui, Shah Fahad and Rahul Datta
Agronomy 2021, 11(12), 2589; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11122589 - 19 Dec 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3819
Abstract
Cotton is a major cash crop of Pakistan that provides high foreign exchange and plays an important role in agriculture, industry, and economic development. The plant population is important in achieving high cotton yield and fiber quality attributes in irrigated conditions. Most farmers [...] Read more.
Cotton is a major cash crop of Pakistan that provides high foreign exchange and plays an important role in agriculture, industry, and economic development. The plant population is important in achieving high cotton yield and fiber quality attributes in irrigated conditions. Most farmers maintain plant spacing according to their local tradition, and often ignore the varietal characteristics in Pakistan that cause low yield and poor quality of products. Therefore, standardization of plant spacings according to varietal characteristics is important to achieve higher yield and fiber quality. A field experiment was carried out at the Agronomic Research Area, Muhammad Nawaz Shareef University of Agriculture, Multan, Pakistan in 2017, in order to evaluate the performance of four cotton cultivars (MNH-1016, FH-Lalazar, NIAB-878, and Cyto-124) under five plant spacings (15.0, 22.5, 30.0, 37.5, and 45.0 cm), comparing them with and without nitrogen application. Nitrogen fertilization was applied at the rate of 197 kg ha−1. The experiment was replicated thrice, as per Randomized Complete Block Design with factorial arrangements. The results showed that nitrogen application of 197 kg ha−1 showed a positive impact on all crop parameters compared to plots where no nitrogen fertilizer was applied. The wider plant spacing (45 cm) increased the values of many cotton parameters compared with other plant spacings (22.5, 30.0, 37.5 and 45.0 cm), but the seed cotton yield was found to be higher in the narrow plant spacing (15 cm). However, fiber quality parameters such as GOT, staple strength, and micronaire showed higher values under wider plant spacing (45.0 cm). The varieties showed a mixed effect on cotton productivity and fiber quality. The MNH-1016 significantly impacted yield-contributing parameters such as bolls plant−1, boll weight and seed cotton yield. The NIAB-878 showed a higher photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance compared to other varieties. Therefore, the wider plant spacing with nitrogen application could be a better strategy to increase cotton growth, yield, physiology, and fiber quality. However, long-term studies under different climatic conditions are suggested for wider plant spacing with nitrogen fertilizers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress)
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15 pages, 1604 KiB  
Article
Regulation of Phosphorus and Zinc Uptake in Relation to Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi for Better Maize Growth
by Abdul Saboor, Muhammad Arif Ali, Shabir Husain, Muhammad Saeed Tahir, Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Bilal, Khurram Shehzad Baig, Rahul Datta, Niaz Ahmed, Subhan Danish and Bernard R. Glick
Agronomy 2021, 11(11), 2322; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112322 - 17 Nov 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2616
Abstract
Zinc (Zn) is an important micronutrient for plants, whose deficiency in alkaline soils creates hurdles in the achievement of optimum crop growth. Moreover, overuse of phosphorus (P) fertilizers often causes Zn immobilization in the soil. The employment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) could [...] Read more.
Zinc (Zn) is an important micronutrient for plants, whose deficiency in alkaline soils creates hurdles in the achievement of optimum crop growth. Moreover, overuse of phosphorus (P) fertilizers often causes Zn immobilization in the soil. The employment of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) could be potentially environmentally friendly technology in this regard. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to assess the beneficial role of AMF (Glomus species) on maize under low and high P and Zn levels. Seven levels of Zn (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 and 120 mg Zn kg−1 soil ZnSO4·7H2O) and three levels of P (0, 14.5, 29 and 58 kg ac−1 as single superphosphate) were applied with (M+) and without AMF (M−). The results showed that a high application rate of Zn (100 and 120 mg Zn kg−1 soil) restricted P translocation in plants and vice versa. Moreover, the nutritional status of mycorrhizal plants (AM) was better than non-mycorrhizal (NM) plants. AM plants showed a maximum positive response at 20 mg Zn kg−1 soil, or 29 kg P ac−1. In response to 20 mg Zn kg−1 soil, root colonization was maximum, which enhanced the maize nutrient concentration in shoots. In conclusion, AMF inoculation (M+) with P (29 kg ac−1) and Zn (20 mg kg−1) is efficacious for improving maize’s growth and nutrition. More investigations are suggested at the field level under different agroclimatic zones to ascertain whether P (29 kg ac−1) or Zn (20 mg kg−1) with AMF is the best treatment for maize growth optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress)
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Review

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35 pages, 3442 KiB  
Review
Drought Stress in Grain Legumes: Effects, Tolerance Mechanisms and Management
by Marium Khatun, Sumi Sarkar, Farzana Mustafa Era, A. K. M. Mominul Islam, Md. Parvez Anwar, Shah Fahad, Rahul Datta and A. K. M. Aminul Islam
Agronomy 2021, 11(12), 2374; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11122374 - 23 Nov 2021
Cited by 58 | Viewed by 8970
Abstract
Grain legumes are important sources of proteins, essential micronutrients and vitamins and for human nutrition. Climate change, including drought, is a severe threat to grain legume production throughout the world. In this review, the morpho-physiological, physio-biochemical and molecular levels of drought stress in [...] Read more.
Grain legumes are important sources of proteins, essential micronutrients and vitamins and for human nutrition. Climate change, including drought, is a severe threat to grain legume production throughout the world. In this review, the morpho-physiological, physio-biochemical and molecular levels of drought stress in legumes are described. Moreover, different tolerance mechanisms, such as the morphological, physio-biochemical and molecular mechanisms of legumes, are also reviewed. Moreover, various management approaches for mitigating the drought stress effects in grain legumes are assessed. Reduced leaf area, shoot and root growth, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, CO2 influx, nutrient uptake and translocation, and water-use efficiency (WUE) ultimately affect legume yields. The yield loss of grain legumes varies from species to species, even variety to variety within a species, depending upon the severity of drought stress and several other factors, such as phenology, soil textures and agro-climatic conditions. Closure of stomata leads to an increase in leaf temperature by reducing the transpiration rate, and, so, the legume plant faces another stress under drought stress. The biosynthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the most detrimental effect of drought stress. Legumes can adapt to the drought stress by changing their morphology, physiology and molecular mechanism. Improved root system architecture (RSA), reduced number and size of leaves, stress-induced phytohormone, stomatal closure, antioxidant defense system, solute accumulation (e.g., proline) and altered gene expression play a crucial role in drought tolerance. Several agronomic, breeding both conventional and molecular, biotechnological approaches are used as management practices for developing a drought-tolerant legume without affecting crop yield. Exogenous application of plant-growth regulators (PGRs), osmoprotectants and inoculation by Rhizobacteria and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promotes drought tolerance in legumes. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs), genomic selection (GS), marker-assisted selection (MAS), OMICS-based technology and CRISPR/Cas9 make the breeding work easy and save time in the developmental cycle to get resistant legumes. Several drought-resistant grain legumes, such as the chickpea, faba bean, common bean and pigeon pea, were developed by different institutions. Drought-tolerant transgenic legumes, for example, chickpeas, are developed by introgressing desired genes through breeding and biotechnological approaches. Several quantitative trait loci (QTLs), candidate genes occupying drought-tolerant traits, are identified from a variety of grain legumes, but not all are under proper implementation. Hence, more research should be conducted to improve the drought-tolerant traits of grain legumes for avoiding losses during drought. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress)
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24 pages, 8089 KiB  
Review
Abiotic Stresses: Alteration of Composition and Grain Quality in Food Legumes
by Sumi Sarkar, Marium Khatun, Farzana Mustafa Era, A. K. M. Mominul Islam, Md. Parvez Anwar, Subhan Danish, Rahul Datta and A. K. M. Aminul Islam
Agronomy 2021, 11(11), 2238; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112238 - 04 Nov 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3549
Abstract
Abiotic stresses varyingly affect the grain composition and quality of food legumes. This paper is aimed at discussing the impact of abiotic stresses on the grain composition and quality of food legumes. As protein is the main grain constituent of food legumes for [...] Read more.
Abiotic stresses varyingly affect the grain composition and quality of food legumes. This paper is aimed at discussing the impact of abiotic stresses on the grain composition and quality of food legumes. As protein is the main grain constituent of food legumes for which it is being consumed by humans as a cheap protein source, abiotic stresses such as heat, cold, drought, salinity and heavy metals alter this grain protein content in different dimensions for different food legumes. Moreover, other valuable constituents such as starch, soluble sugar, oil, fatty acid and fiber content are affected differently by the abiotic stresses. The diverse impact of these abiotic stresses ultimately declines the grain quality and yield of food legumes. As food legumes play a vital role in the nutritional diet of millions of people in the world and are occasionally denoted as the meat of poor people, it is important to recognize that the sustainable production of food legumes, even under various environmental stresses, has the potential to ensure protein security for people globally. Therefore, it has become a necessity to improve the productivity and quality of food legumes under abiotic stresses through proper crop management and improved breeding strategies, thus enhancing food and economic security to the farmers, particularly in the developing countries of the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Plant-Microbes Symbiosis towards Sustainable Agricultural Crops Productivity under Abiotic Stress)
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