Under the umbrella of smart agronomy, we gathered crop improvement, biostimulants and precision agronomy, all united to improve crops’ productivity. Each of the three sections is represented by a competent Subject Editor, who is in charge of the section.
Crop Improvement
We welcome manuscripts covering plant breeding (e.g. marker-assisted selection) and quantitative genetics, genetically modified (including genome editing) plants with the aim of improving plant yield, quality and resistance to disease or stress, and all artificial intelligence for crop biotechnology (AI+BT) related studies are welcome.
Subject Editor
Qingyu Wu
Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
China
wuqingyu@caas.cn
Area of expertise: maize genetics, inflorescence development, yield improvement, plant nutrients
Cao XuInstitute of Genetics and Developmental Biology
CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science (CEPAMS)
China
caoxu@genetics.ac.cn
Area of expertise: crop genetics, plant development and stress resilience, genome editing and crop design, de novo domestication
Handling editors
Rehna Augustine
Centre for Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Biology
Kerala Agricultural University, India
rehna.augustine@kau.in
Area of expertise: metabolic engineering, glucosinolates, genome editing, abiotic stress tolerance, Brassica juncea, Oryza sativa
Xiaoyu Tu
School of Agriculture and Biology
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
xiaoyutu@sjtu.edu.cn
Area of expertise: functional genomics, C4 photosynthesis, synthetic regulatory strategies, crop photosynthesis enhancement
Ning ZHANG
State Key Laboratory of Wheat Improvement
College of Agronomy
Shandong Agricultural University, China
nzhang@sdau.edu.cn
Area of expertise: crop plant and root architecture, gravitropism, stem cell and epigenetics, RNA-Seq, ATAC-Seq, ChIP, CUT&RUN, FACS, and FANS
Prafull Salvi
BRIC- National Agri-Food and Biomanufacturing Institute
Mohali, India
prafull.salvi@nabi.res.in
Area of expertise: Drought and heat stress, Transcriptional regulation, Seed vigor and longevity, Genetic engineering
Biostimulants & Biofertilizers
We welcome manuscripts that improve our understanding of the biology and effects of biofertilizers and biostimulants (beneficial microorganisms, bioactive organic molecules, extracts or derivatives from diverse natural sources (such as seaweed or kelp, plants or animal byproducts) on plant growth, development, and responses to abiotic stresses.
Manuscripts dealing with the mechanisms of biological functions or the effects of biostimulants and biofertilizers on nutrient availability, uptake or use efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and consequent growth, development, quality, or yield are welcome.
Subject Editor
Bingru Huang
Department of Plant Biology
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, USA
huang@sebs.rutgers.edu
Area of expertise: stress physiology (heat, drought, salt), functional genomics, water relations, carbon/hormone/antioxidant/protein metabolisms
Handling Editors
Jean-Christophe Avice
UMR INRAe/UCN 950 Ecophysiologie Végétale et Agronomie
Equipe INCCA – Interactions Nutritionnelles, Conduites et Contraintes Abiotiques
Université de Caen Normandie, France
jean-christophe.avice@unicaen.fr
Area of expertise: 
Petronia Carillo
Dept. of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies
University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Italy
petronia.carillo@unicampania.it
Area of expertise: crop physiology, metabolic profiling, N metabolism, salt stress, osmolytes, and biostimulants
Tzu-Pi Huang
Academy of Circular Economy,
National Chung Hsing University
Nantou, Taiwan
tphuang@nchu.edu.tw
Area of expertise: biofilm, biocontrol, biopesticide, bofertilizer, biostimulant, Bacillus, Streptomyces, pesticides, plant pathology, quorum sensing
Huu-Sheng Lur
Department of Agronomy
National Taiwan University
lurhs@ntu.edu.tw
Area of expertise: Crop Physiology, Climate Change and Crop Production
Balakrishnan Prithiviraj
Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Agriculture
Dalhousie University, Canada
bprithiviraj@dal.ca
Area of expertise: marine bioproducts, plant biostimulants
Field Phenotyping
Subject Editor
Onno Muller
Institut für Bio- und Geowissenschaften (IBG)
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
Jülich, Germany
o.muller@fz-juelich.de