Dear Colleagues,

Horticulturally important crops include tree fruits, ornamentals, vegetables, and speciality crops. Transgenic and breeding approaches have improved the understanding and ability to develop desirable traits in these crops. However, the majority of progress is limited to model plant/crop systems. Due to the requirement of long breeding cycles, heterozygous nature of plants, and lack of reliable transformation or associated methods in horticultural crops, the rate of progress is limited. Rapidly evolving climate and consumer preferences have facilitated the need for the accelerated and sustainable development of horticultural crops.

Genome editing technologies, such as CRISPR/Cas9, have provided potential avenues for the rapid development of horticultural crops based on consumer-driven traits. This can reduce the cost and time required for the development of crop varieties from decades down to a few years. Gene expression studies can aid in the implementation of genome editing technologies for the development of biotic- and abiotic-stress-resistant varieties.

This Special Issue will highlight a collection of articles (including original research papers, reviews, and methods) that focuses on current advancements and future prospects of horticultural crop genomics and biotechnology. This would help build bridges and exchange knowledge between research communities working in horticultural sciences across the globe.

Dr. Rishikesh Ghogare
Dr. Prabu Gnanasekaran
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.

• biotechnology
• genome editing
• CRISPR/Cas9
• plant transformation
• genomics
• metabolite analysis
• gene expression
• disease resistance