Cogent Food & Agriculture

Use of Biostimulants in Crops Under Stress

Plants are continuously challenged by a multitude of biotic and abiotic stresses, including drought, salinity, heat, nutrient deficiency, and pathogen attacks, which severely constrain growth, productivity, and quality. With global climate change intensifying these stressors, maintaining crop yield and resilience has become a major concern for sustainable agriculture. Biostimulants (natural or synthetic substances and beneficial microorganisms) have emerged as a promising solution to mitigate stress impacts and enhance plant performance. Acting through physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms, they improve nutrient uptake, photosynthetic efficiency, and antioxidant defenses while modulating hormonal and metabolic pathways that strengthen plant tolerance. Derived from diverse sources such as seaweed extracts, humic substances, protein hydrolysates, and microbial inoculants, biostimulants represent an eco-friendly alternative to traditional agrochemicals. Their integration into crop management systems offers new opportunities to sustain productivity, improve resource efficiency, and support environmental sustainability in modern agriculture.

The increasing frequency of extreme climatic events and the spread of pests and pathogens threaten global food security by reducing crop yields and compromising quality. Traditional approaches based on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, while effective in the short term, have led to soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and environmental contamination. Biostimulants offer a sustainable alternative, enhancing the intrinsic resilience of plants and reducing dependency on synthetic inputs. Their use promotes physiological balance, stimulates root development, and triggers defense pathways that improve tolerance to both biotic and abiotic stresses. Additionally, by improving nutrient-use efficiency and soil health, biostimulants contribute to lowering agricultural inputs and greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, understanding and optimizing biostimulant formulations and mechanisms of action are critical. Their widespread adoption represents a key strategy for achieving resilient cropping systems capable of maintaining productivity and quality in a changing climate.

This Article Collection focuses on sharing recent advances, case studies, and innovations on the use of biostimulants as sustainable tools to mitigate the adverse effects of stress on crops, emphasizing both mechanistic understanding and practical application. The collection welcomes original research, reviews, and short communications addressing the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms by which biostimulants enhance plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, highlighting their connection with agronomic applications and supporting the transition toward more sustainable and climate-resilient cropping systems.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Use of biostimulants to enhance tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress.
• Nutrient-use efficiency, soil fertility, and rhizosphere interactions.
• Interactions between biostimulants and the plant microbiome.
• Integration of biostimulants into sustainable management practices.
• Mechanisms of action under abiotic and biotic stress.

Keywords: Biostimulants, Plant stress tolerance, Biotic and abiotic stress, Nutrient-use efficiency, Plant-microorganisms interaction

Guest Advisors:

Prof. Isidoro Gómez-Parrales Ph.D. is a senior researcher with the “Environmental Edaphology” research group at the University of Seville. His work centers on transforming various organic wastes into biostimulants, playing a key role in advancing the transition toward a circular economy. Prof. Gómez-Parrales has been actively involved in numerous research projects, focusing on the application of biostimulants for soil enhancement and their impact on plant growth and development. Here is the link to his ORCID page: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1627-034X.

Prof. Antonio Ferrante Ph.D. is a full professor specializing in Vegetable and Ornamental Crops at the Institute of Crop Science, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa. He also serves as the President of the Italian Society for Horticultural Science. His research focuses on the mode of action of biostimulants in crops, particularly in improving nutrient use efficiency and enhancing tolerance to abiotic stresses. Additionally, his work explores postharvest-induced senescence and the role of plant hormones, including ethylene and abscisic acid, in this process. Here is the link to his ORCID page: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7781-9784.

Prof. Spiros Petropoulos Ph.D. is an associate professor and the head of the Laboratory of Vegetable Production at the University of Thessaly. He earned his Ph.D. in agricultural sciences in 2006 from the Agricultural University of Athens. His research interests encompass a wide range of topics, including the bioactive properties of vegetables and wild edible plants, the evaluation of landraces and medicinal plants under various cultivation systems and practices, plant physiology under stress conditions, fruit quality, and wild edible species. He has an impressive academic record, having authored or co-authored 226 scientific papers in Science Citation Index Journals, with 7,238 citations and an h-index of 45. Additionally, he has published two books in Greek, contributed to several book chapters in English, and participated in or coordinated various scientific programs and conferences at both national and international levels. In his current project, he is evaluating the impact of agronomic practices, such as deficit irrigation combined with biostimulant application, on the chemical profile and bioactive properties of aromatic plant byproducts to mitigate climate change effects and enhance bioactive compound biosynthesis. Here is the link to his ORCID page: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0324-7960.

Disclosure statement: All Guest Advisors declare no conflict of interest.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope  and author submission instructions  prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is September 30th, 2026.

Please contact Ruby Ru at [email protected]  with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

To submit your papers to this Article Collection, please:

1. Check "yes" for the question, "Are you submitting your paper for a specific special issue or article collection?"
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