Biostimulants for Resilient Vegetable Crop Production

Vegetable crops face increasing pressure from abiotic stressors, including drought, salinity, heat, and soil degradation. These stressors threaten yield stability and quality worldwide. As demand grows for sustainable, low-input production systems, biostimulants have emerged as a promising tool to enhance crop resilience without relying on synthetic agrochemicals. These substances include microbial inoculants, seaweed extracts, humic and fulvic acids, protein hydrolysates, and other bioactive compounds. Reported benefits include better nutrient uptake, stronger root development, and activation of plant defense mechanisms under stress. However, many studies still report only agronomic outcomes. This leaves the underlying modes of action poorly understood.This Research Topic aims to bring together research that advances mechanistic understanding of how biostimulants improve abiotic stress tolerance in vegetable crops. All submissions must go beyond describing yield or growth responses. They should explain how and why a biostimulant works, at the physiological, biochemical, molecular, genetic, or microbiome level. Field-scale and controlled-environment studies are welcome when they are paired with mechanistic evidence, such as physiological measurements, transcriptomic, metabolomic or proteomic data, hormone profiling, or analysis of microbial community function. Studies that test mechanisms across vegetable species, growth stages, and stress scenarios, or that examine how biostimulants interact with other sustainable management practices, are especially encouraged.By consolidating mechanism-based knowledge, this Research Topic seeks to support science-based strategies that help vegetable growers adapt to changing environmental conditions while maintaining productivity and quality.Please note: Purely descriptive efficacy trials, product screenings, or agronomic evaluations without mechanistic insight are outside the scope of this Research Topic.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:- Mechanisms by which biostimulants influence vegetable growth, yield, and quality under abiotic stress (drought, salinity, heat, cold)- Microbial biostimulants (PGPR, mycorrhizal fungi) and the mechanisms behind their effect on vegetable crop resilience- Modes of action of seaweed extracts, humic/fulvic substances, and protein hydrolysates in vegetable production systems- Physiological, biochemical, and molecular (omics-based) mechanisms underlying biostimulant-induced stress tolerance- Mechanistic basis of application strategies (timing, dosage, delivery method) for different vegetable species- Mechanisms of interaction between biostimulants and the soil microbiome or nutrient management practices- Field and greenhouse trials that combine efficacy data with mechanistic evidence- Sustainability and economic considerations of biostimulant adoption, where supported by mechanistic findings Topic editors: Spyridon Alexandros Petropoulos, Giuseppe Mannino, Gaetano Pandino Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86845/biostimulants-for-resilient-vegetable-crop-production