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Call for papers - Sustainable agriculture

Guest Editors:
Subhojit Datta: ICAR - Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, India
Islam Hamim: Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh
Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal: Savitribai Phule Pune University, India
Rungroch Sungthong: Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 15 December 2023


New Content ItemWith the growing human population, increasing demand for food, and the global impact of climate change, the development and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices are critical to ensure a healthy and sustainable future of mankind. Moving towards eco-sustainable societies has led the research community to seek for innovative approaches to sustainably increase agricultural production and resilience. In support of UN Sustainable Development Goals "To end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture" (SDG2) and “To protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” (SDG15), the editors of BMC Plant Biology announce the launch and call for research articles on "Sustainable Agriculture". This collection seeks research contributions on various aspects of Sustainable Agriculture, providing insights into the environmental, social and economic factors that affect sustainable agricultural practices and their management.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Subhojit Datta: ICAR - Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, India

Dr. Subhojit Datta is a plant geneticist who has made significant contributions to the field of crop improvement through his expertise in modern biotechnology techniques such as genomics, transgenics, and genomics-assisted breeding in crops like jute, chickpea, and pigeonpea. One of Dr. Datta's most notable contributions is the development of cry1Ac- and cry1Aabc-induced stable resistance to pod borer in chickpea and pigeonpea in India. Dr. Datta has contributed to the development of mapping resources and functional EST-SSR markers, which are important tools for genetic analysis and plant breeding. His work has significantly advanced the understanding and application of modern biotechnology in crop improvement.

Islam Hamim: Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh

Dr. Islam Hamim is an Associate Professor of plant pathology at Bangladesh Agricultural University. He does translational research on the interactions of pathogens and beneficial microbes with plants, insects, pollinators, and fungi in agricultural and natural eco-systems to develop sustainable pest and disease management approaches in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry. During his PhD with Prof. Dr. John Hu at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA, he studied the diversity, co-infections, and transgenic resistance mechanisms of papaya viruses. As a JSPS postdoc with Dr. Ken Komatsu at the Tokyo University of Agricultural and Technology, Japan, Dr. Hamim conducted research on molecular mechanisms underlying genetic diversity and symptom expressions of RNA viruses.  With an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, he has recently started a research collaboration with Prof. Dr. Lena Wilfert on the distribution and impacts of pathogens and beneficial microorganisms associated with managed and native bees in Bangladesh.

Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal: Savitribai Phule Pune University, India

Dr. Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal obtained his doctoral degree from the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, India, and is currently working as Dr. D.S. Kothari Post-doctoral Fellow at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India. He has ten years of research experience in microbial-agro-biotechnology, plant-microbe interaction and sustainable agriculture, primarily based on exploring and formulating the microbial consortium for phyto-stimulation of crops, biodegradation of pesticides, and integrated pest and disease management to provide a sustainable solution for agriculture sustainability. He is an editorial member of BMC Microbiology and BMC Plant Biology. Currently, he is working on agro-microbial-biotechnological approaches for crop protection and bio-remediation of pesticides. 

Rungroch Sungthong: Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

Rungroch Sungthong obtained his Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environment in 2014 at the University of Seville in Andalucía, Spain. He works on multidisciplinary research projects in microbiology, environmental sciences, and plant-microbe interactions. Currently, he is exploring the pharmaceutical potential of phytochemicals derived from diverse tropical species at the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. His enthusiasms focus on implementing beneficial microbes in sustainable crop production and agroforestry. The roles of microbes in the restoration of pesticide-polluted agroecosystems and the optimization of water/nutrient recirculation in aquaponics are among his current interests.

About the collection

With the growing human population, increasing demand for food, and the global impact of climate change, the development and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices are critical to ensure a healthy and sustainable future of mankind. Moving towards eco-sustainable societies has led the research community to seek for innovative approaches to sustainably increase agricultural production and resilience. In support of UN Sustainable Development Goals "To end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture" (SDG2) and “To protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” (SDG15), the editors of BMC Plant Biology announce the launch and call for research articles on "Sustainable Agriculture". This collection seeks research contributions on various aspects of Sustainable Agriculture, providing insights into the environmental, social and economic factors that affect sustainable agricultural practices and their management. This collection will therefore consider a broad range of submissions exploring the following areas of research:

•    Technological progress and sustainable agriculture
•    Climate change and sustainable agriculture
•    Resource management and optimization for sustainable agriculture
•    Organic/sustainable farming
•    Reduction of land use
•    Environmental GWAS for genome prediction
•    Genetics and epigenetics to improve plant yield
•    Clean crop production
•    Crop yield potential and soil nutrition
•    Crop physiology and post-harvest management
•    Agricultural drought
•    Remote sensing
•    Machine learning in agricultural practices
•    Biotechnological intervention and sustainable agriculture
•    Engineering microbial consortium, bioremediation and sustainable agriculture
•    Life cycle assessment of integrated farming system
•    Roles of plant-microbe interactions in agricultural sustainability
•    Aquaponics, as hybrid technology to achieve food security and space farming
•    Soilless crop production and water/nutrient recirculation

Image credit: © ollo / Getty Images / iStock

  1. Soil salinity, soil infertility, and freshwater scarcity are among the major constraints affecting agricultural ecosystems in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Hence, there is a need to look for salt-to...

    Authors: Muziri Mugwanya, Fahad Kimera, Khaled Madkour, Mahmoud A. O. Dawood and Hani Sewilam
    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2023 23:417
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is the sole source of phosphorus for plants. It is a limiting factor for plant yield in most soils worldwide. Due to economic and environmental constraints, the use of Pi fertilizer is...

    Authors: Laura Cuyas, Pascale David, Damien de Craieye, Sophia Ng, Mustapha Arkoun, Claude Plassard, Mohamadi Faharidine, Delphine Hourcade, Francesca Degan, Sylvain Pluchon and Laurent Nussaume
    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2023 23:401
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. Strawberries are one of the most widely cultivated fruits in the world, and their popularity continues to grow due to their unique taste, high nutritional value, and numerous health benefits. The success of st...

    Authors: Nafiye Unal, Ibrahim Kahramanoglu, Hanifeh Seyed Hajizadeh, Jale Bilgin and Volkan Okatan
    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2023 23:400
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Currently, using unconventional water sources in agriculture has become necessary to face overpopulation worldwide. Therefore, a pot experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of irrigation with saline...

    Authors: Abu El-Eyuoon Abu Zied Amin
    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2023 23:382
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Most of Camellia oleifera forests have low fruit yield and poor oil quality that are largely associated with soil fertility. Soil physical and chemical properties interact with each other affecting soil fertility...

    Authors: Yu Chen, Jinjia Zheng, Zhijian Yang, Chenhao Xu, Penghui Liao, Shaosheng Pu, Yousry A. El-Kassaby and Jinling Feng
    Citation: BMC Plant Biology 2023 23:378
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines, to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Sustainable agriculture" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.