Agroecological Approaches for Enhancing Plant Growth and Yield in a Time of Global Change.

The effects of climate change are steadily increasing worldwide, creating more challenging environmental conditions for plant growth by intensifying both biotic and abiotic stresses, such as plant diseases, drought, salinity, heat, and cold. In this context, developing agroecological technofixes for optimizing plant stress tolerance is required for ensuring food security and crop needs. Although it is widely known that fertilization improves plant growth, chemical fertilizers can contribute to soil and water pollution, and to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. As an alternative, researchers have proposed the use of biofertilizers based on live microorganisms such as algae, mycorrhizae, and bacteria. Among these, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are widely reported in the literature as beneficial microbes that enhance plant growth through both direct and indirect mechanisms. These include the secretion of phytohormones, solubilization of insoluble nutrients, production of extracellular enzymes, nitrogen fixation, and the formation of exopolysaccharides (EPS), along with various other traits that improve plant stress tolerance.

Plant breeding is another widely used agroecological strategy by farmers. In this context, breeders conduct comprehensive screening of genotypes through multiple approaches: a genomic approach, by identifying genotypes that possess stress-tolerance genes; a physiological approach, by evaluating genotypes that exhibit minimal physiological disturbances under stress; and an agronomic approach, by assessing crop growth and productivity across various environmental conditions.

Finally, adopting agroecological farming practices is a common recommendation by researchers and experts. In recent years, numerous studies have advocated for the adoption of crop rotation, intercropping, organic farming, cover cropping, and other sustainable practices as agroecological alternatives that can ensure high crop productivity while reducing the reliance on chemical fertilizers.

This research topic aims to address key challenges in agriculture by collecting innovative approaches that integrate advances in technology, agricultural sciences, and ecological research. The primary focus is on agroecological technologies that support the improvement of plant growth and productivity under both optimal and stressful environmental conditions.

Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Agroecological practices for enhancing plant growth and yield under diverse environmental conditions

- Biofertilizers for improving plant growth and stress tolerance

- Plant breeding for resilience and productivity

- Plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Agroecology; Biofertilizer; Farming practices; Plant breeding; Biotic stresses Abiotic stresses

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