Dear Colleagues,

The major horticultural crops produced in the world are vegetables, fruits, and flowers. Recently, the importance of abiotic stresses has been gaining attention because many regions of horticultural crop production in the world experience diverse abiotic stresses, including those caused by the global climate change. Abiotic stresses in the form of extreme temperatures, light, humidity, drought, and/or salinity are well-known, and they are associated with a number of morphological, physiological, and biochemical events. The most common stress factors are the easiest for people to identify, but there are many other less recognizable abiotic stress factors which constantly affect the cultural environment.

Abiotic stress factors exert their negative effects through various biological molecules and induce oxidative stress by inhibiting the detoxifying enzymes of reactive oxygen species (ROS). These responses are direct consequences of changes in physiology, and gene or protein expressions. Abiotic stress factors may also induce a series of alterations which can influence the photochemical quantum yield of photosynthesis. The major effects of these abiotic stresses are a reduction in crop yield. Although many major steps have been taken through the years to reduce the effects of these stresses by genomic approaches, genomic information alone has been insufficient to answer those questions concerning gene function, developmental and regulatory biology, and the biochemical aspects.

The research topic aims to explore and provide more comprehensive approaches that include quantitative and qualitative analyses at the physiological, transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome levels to elucidate the major effects and improvements of abiotic stresses in horticultural plants. We welcome contributions including original research papers, short communications, reviews, and methods which are focused on the molecular and physiological overview of horticultural plants under abiotic stresses. Articles focused on alleviation and improvements of horticultural plants under abiotic stresses are also welcome.

Dr. Sowbiya Muneer
Prof. Dr. Byoung Ryong Jeong
Guest Editors

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• Abiotic stress
• Horticultural crops
• Physiological modeling
• Genomics
• Proteomics
• Transcriptomics