Ensuring the wide scope for the development of agricultural science is aimed at improving the lands of subsector production and stabilizing the ecology of the environment and preserving the ecological purity of the agricultural products produced within the framework of the global food security programs.

A new variety requires distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) to get registered for plant breeder rights based on the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) regulations. The morphological characteristics are used for the DUS test. But it is necessary to conduct growing cycles at the field or greenhouse. Morphological characteristics are quantitatively inherited and their expression is affected by environmental factors. Therefore, a rapid and robust “DNA markers” have been recently used to identify varieties and to analysis genetic relationships in many crops. DNA markers for identification of plant will be used in wide area including of variety authentication, selection of similar varieties and management of reference collection and so on. The purpose of this special issue is to provide the result of diverse researches on variety identification and genetic relationship using DNA markers in plant.

It is very much pleasure to announce SAP Journal is now preparing for its special issue, which will reflect the importance on role of indiscriminate use of insecticide on insect biodiversity of rice crop. The special issue on studies on role of insecticide on insect biodiversity will also make awareness about residual toxicity on food crop. Articles to be submitted should be original, unpublished contributions.

Agriculture has always been closely linked with trends in climate change. The scope of the theme is to enlighten the impact, mitigation and adaptation of climate change on agricultural production, soil health and quality. ‘Conservation agriculture’ and ‘sustainability of soil health’ are to be given due attention in the era of climate change. The purpose of the theme is to accumulate best research and review works on climate change and agriculture specially conservation agriculture.

Ancient people lived in forests used plants as drugs for millennia. A large number of plants were using in traditional medical practices for more than 3000 years such as in Chinese traditional medicine, Ayurvedic medicine and Unani medicine. Approximately 75% of “synthetic” medicines are derived from plants and more future drugs for 21st century is going to be from plant resources. Tropical rain forests are rich in biota of both plants and animals. Medicinal plants are among forest resources. Native knowledge of medicinal plants was documented as texts from different regions of the world. Plants are listed with their vernacular names and scientific names. Popularity increased the usage of medicinal plants/herbal drugs among the common people. To produce more plant based drugs cultivation practices to be followed. For the agriculture of medicinal plants one has to identify the authentic plants because there different plants, some not having any medicinal value, with same vernacular names due to pronunciation difference or language. Another common malpractice is herbal adulteration in herbal raw material trade. Adulteration is described as intentional substitution with another plant species or intentional addition of a foreign substance to increase the weight or potency of the product or to decrease its cost. In general, adulteration is considered as an intentional practice. However, unintentional adulterations also exist in herbal raw material trade due to various reasons and many of them are unknown even to the scientific community. There are different approaches to identify authentic plants. This special issue is to give coverage on such research articles where authentic plants are distinguished using different molecular techniques.

The special issue is designed to bring out the original research articles on physiology, ecology, bacterial activity, production, quality, biochemistry and seeds of legumes crops. The objective of the special issue is to serve as a forum for scientific community to publish their research findings on legumes to provide basis for new research.

Many plants used as raw material are exploited directly from the nature. This situation leads to ecological problems and don′t assure the supply of raw material, in terms of quantity and quality. Because of this, the production chain of new products can not be established until these new sources are domesticated. The purpose of this special issue would be to present the state of art of some of these new crops (medicinal, dye, sweeteners, alimentary, cosmetic, etc.) and to discuss the importance of domestication in order to promote the preservation of the species in their natural habitats.