Global climate warming is characterized by diurnal and seasonal asymmetry, with greater increases at nighttime and in winter and spring.  Growing evidence has recognized that night-warming in winter and spring significantly impacts winter wheat production.  Pre-crop straw returning is the principal method for straw utilization, but the interactions between straw returning and night-warming on wheat yield and N use efficiency (NUE) remain unclear.  Here, a consecutive three-year field experiment with two straw treatments (S0, straw removal; S1, straw returning) and two warming treatments (W0, no warming control; W1, night-warming) found that both S1 and W1 improved wheat grain yield and NUE, with W1 exhibiting more pronounced improvements.  Notably, the interaction between S1 and W1 (S1W1) further enhanced yield and NUE by 13.0 and 16.5%, respectively, compared to S0W0 through increasing grain number and 1,000-grain weight (three-year average).  Additionally, root growth and topsoil inorganic N content decreased in S1 before jointing, thereby reducing plant dry matter and N accumulation.  However, W1 exhibited an opposite trend, thereby mitigating these negative effects.  Simultaneously, under S1W1, increased N translocation to grain and post-anthesis dry matter accumulation, driven by greater N distribution to leaves and higher N metabolism enzyme activity, enhanced both yield and NUE.  This improvement was supported by better root morphology and biomass, particularly in the 0–40 cm soil layer, boosting plant N absorption.  Additionally, elevated soil N-acquiring enzyme activity after jointing increased the net N mineralization rate and microbial biomass N, enhancing soil N-supply capacity.  As a result, post-jointing inorganic N content rose in the 0–20 cm layer while decreasing at 20–60 cm, thus reducing the apparent N surplus.  Collectively, straw returning, night-warming, and their interactions enhanced root distribution and N-supply capacity after jointing in the topsoil layer, thereby increasing plant N uptake and its translocation to grains, along with post-anthesis dry matter accumulation, ultimately improving grain yield and NUE.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a cornerstone of global food security, feeding over a third of the world’s population and functioning as a critical economic crop across diverse agroecological zones (FAO 2022).  However, wheat production faces mounting challenges from climate volatility, resource depletion, and the pressing demand for sustainable intensification.  This special issue presents seven cutting-edge studies that bridge scales from molecular mechanisms to field-level management, offering integrative solutions to enhance wheat’s resilience, productivity, and sustainability.  Structured into three thematic sections, these contributions advance both fundamental understanding and practical applications for the future of wheat cultivation.

I. Stress priming for drought resilience

Drought stress during critical reproductive stages remains a primary constraint to global wheat productivity, often causing significant yield losses and quality deterioration (Simane et al. 1993).  Emerging research on stress priming - where controlled pre-exposure to moderate stress enhances subsequent stress tolerance - has opened promising avenues for crop improvement (Wang et al. 2014; Li et al. 2023).  The current issue presents two pivotal studies that substantially advance the fundamental understanding and practical application of priming technology in wheat systems.  Li et al. (2025a) decode the molecular basis of drought priming, identifying 416 differentially expressed genes and 27 transcription factors governing hormone signaling, osmoprotection, and cuticular wax biosynthesis.  These findings establish the molecular architecture of stress memory in wheat, explaining how priming induces a persistent state of enhanced drought readiness.

Li et al. (2025b) further demonstrate that priming benefits extend beyond yield protection to safeguard grain quality parameters.  Primed plants maintain starch functionality, preserve protein composition balance, and minimize quality deterioration under stress conditions.

These discoveries transform priming from a physiological curiosity into a practical field solution, though challenges persist in developing cost-effective delivery systems suitable for diverse farming contexts.

II. Precision agronomy for enhanced resource efficiency

Achieving sustainable yield gains in wheat systems necessitates innovative approaches to optimizing critical resources, particularly nitrogen and water, as current approaches remain key constraints to productivity (Chen et al. 2023).  Recent studies in this issue demonstrate significant advances in precision management strategies that address these challenges while maintaining yield potential.

Liang et al. (2025) elucidate the role of 24-epibras-sinolide in improving nitrogen use efficiency under limited nitrogen conditions.  Their work reveals how this plant growth regulator fine-tunes fructan metabolism, reducing floret abortion and maintaining yields with less nitrogen input.  This hormonal approach represents a novel pathway to overcome one of the most persistent challenges in wheat production.  Complementing these findings, Guo et al. (2025) present compelling evidence through a 13-year field study that integrated soil–crop management systems can simultaneously boost yields and increase soil organic carbon annually while improving nitrogen recovery efficiency.  Their detailed soil fractionation analysis yields critical insights into the microbial mechanisms underlying these improvements, offering a scientific foundation for sustainable intensification strategies.

Water scarcity, particularly in semi-arid wheat-growing regions, demands innovative irrigation solutions that maximize efficiency without compromising yield (Wasson et al. 2012).  Che et al. (2025) demonstrate that deficit irrigation can reduce water use by 25%, extending photosynthetic activity and improving yield stability under water stress conditions.  Similarly, Li et al. (2025c) validate the effectiveness of micro-sprinkler irrigation technology, which enhances water productivity through precise synchronization of water delivery with critical growth stages, outperforming conventional flood irrigation methods.  

These studies illustrate how precision agronomy - whether hormonal regulation, soil health management, or optimized irrigation - can successfully decouple input reduction from yield penalties.  The findings provide actionable insights for reducing the environmental footprint of wheat production while maintaining productivity under increasingly constrained resource availability.

III. Climate adaptation through systems modeling

The impact of climate change on wheat production systems is escalating, manifested through shifting temperature regimes, altered precipitation patterns, and changing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations (Lesk et al. 2021).  Traditional static models of agronomic management are increasingly ineffective under dynamic climate conditions.  Preparing wheat systems for future climates demands immediate attention through adaptive strategies grounded in robust data and predictive modeling.  

By integrating 10 years of comprehensive field data with robust crop simulation models, Liu et al. (2025) provide critical insights into future yield constraints under projected climate scenarios.  Their analysis reveals two notable findings.  First, growing degree days and solar radiation will emerge as primary yield-limiting factors in many current production regions.  Second, the potential benefits of elevated CO₂ concentrations are highly contingent on complementary management interventions.  These results challenge simplistic assumptions about climate change impacts and underscore the need for nuanced, context-specific adaptation strategies.  

The study’s most valuable contribution lies in its development and validation of a genotype×environment× management (G×E×M) framework for climate adaptation.  This integrated approach transcends conventional breeding or agronomic solutions considered in isolation, emphasizing instead their synergistic interactions.

This collection exemplifies how multidisciplinary science can reconcile productivity with sustainability.  Integrating discoveries from molecular biology to systems modeling generates the knowledge and tools needed to transform wheat production.  The path forward demands continued innovation coupled with effective translation, ensuring that scientific breakthroughs are transformed into practical solutions for farmers worldwide.  In this era of global change, such integrative approaches will define the future of sustainable agriculture.

Late sowing is a critical factor that hinders achieving high-yield, good-quality wheat under rice–wheat rotation.  Understanding the physiological basis and regulatory pathways that lead to high yield and sound quality late-sown wheat is crucial for developing effective cultivation strategies.  A 2-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of sowing date, nitrogen (N) application rate, and planting density on wheat yield, grain quality, population characteristics, and the underlying physiological factors.  The results revealed significant interactions among the sowing date, planting density, and N application in regulating both yield and quality.  Late sowing reduced grain yield primarily by reducing the number of spikes and kernels.  However, the latter was improved by increasing N application and the planting density, thus mitigating the yield losses caused by late sowing.  Moreover, the grain protein content (GPC) and wet gluten content (WGC) increased with delayed sowing dates and higher N rates but decreased with increased planting densities.  For wheat yields over 9,000 or 7,500 kg ha^–1, the latest sowing date should not be later than Nov. 4 or 15, respectively.  In addition, specific criteria should be met, including a maximum of 1.5 and 1.0 million stems and tillers ha^–1, a maximum leaf area index of 6.7 and 5.5, and a dry matter accumulation (DMA) at anthesis of 14,000 and 12,000 kg ha^–1, respectively.  For high-yield, good-quality late-sown wheat, the optimal combination is a 25% increase in the N rate (300 kg N ha^–1) and a planting density of 2.25 million (N300D225) or 3.75 million (N300D375) plants ha^–1 for 10- or 20-day delays in sowing, respectively.  These combinations result in a higher leaf net photosynthetic rate, higher activities of leaf nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, grain glutamic pyruvic transaminase, and a lower sugar-N ratio during post-anthesis.

Soil waterlogging threatens global wheat production by inducing root hypoxia. While stress priming can enhance plant resilience, the specific mechanisms underlying this pre-adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that a single day of mild waterlogging priming (MP) induces a robust primed state in wheat, conferring superior recovery and tolerance to subsequent hypoxic stress. Crucially, we identify the post-priming recovery phase as a decisive window for physiological reprogramming, rather than a mere period of passive repair. During this window, MP plants developmentally reconstruct their adventitious roots (ARs) system, transitioning from transient, short ARs to a persistent architecture dominated by long ARs. This reprogrammed root system exhibits functionally superior through the synergistic co-optimization of root hydraulic conductivity (Lpr) and radial oxygen loss (ROL). Physiological and molecular analyses reveal that enhanced Lpr is accompanied by the sustained upregulation of aquaporin genes (TaTIP2-1, TaTIP2-2, and TaPIP2-6), while improved ROL facilitates superior root rhizosphere aeration. Structural equation modeling statistically validates that the formation of long ARs during recovery is the pivotal trait causally driving the optimization of Lpr and ROL. In contrast, severe priming causes irreversible damage and confers no adaptive benefit. Our findings propose a model of “anticipatory root priming”, wherein mild stress leverages the recovery window to pre-construct an energetically efficient root system. This fundamentally shifts the plant's strategy from a reactive emergency response to proactive, regulated resilience, providing a physiological framework for priming-based crop improvement.

Salt stress is a major limiting factor for global wheat production, especially during the germination stage. Traditional methods for evaluating salt resistance at the germination stage are limited by low throughput and their inability to capture dynamic phenotypic changes. In this study, a low-cost and high-throughput seed germination phenotyping platform was developed by integrating side-view RGB imaging with image analysis algorithms. Organ segmentation and germination related traits extraction processes was built via a deep learning pipeline for comprehensive phenotyping of the germination process of diverse varieties under different salt levels. Organ-level segmentation achieved a mean precision of 89.08%, a mean recall of 91.65%, a pixel accuracy of 91.65%, and a mean intersection over union of 83.20%. The 13 image-derived traits were highly consistent with manual measurements. Salt stress significantly inhibited the growth of roots and seedlings, with inhibitory effects intensifying as salt concentration increased. Further analysis revealed seed size shows no correlation with germination capacity and radicle growth rate significantly surpasses that of the coleoptile. Clustering analysis based on dynamic image-derived indices classified the 210 wheat materials into two groups with significantly different salt tolerance. GWAS identified 429 loci associated with salt stress response during germination, including one potential candidate gene, TraesCS7A03G007080, known to play a role in salt tolerance mechanisms. This study provides important genetic materials for the evaluation of salt-tolerant wheat varieties at the germination stage and offers a low-cost, high-throughput, and reliable technical approach for dissecting the genetic basis of salt tolerance during wheat germination.

Drought stress is a significant environmental stressor that can have detrimental effects on crop yields, especially during stem elongation.  Drought priming has emerged as a promising technique for enhancing plant drought tolerance.  However, the effects of drought priming on the differentiation process of spike and its physiological basis of wheat are not clear.  In this study, we investigated the effects of drought priming on the development of spike under drought stress by applying drought priming at the three-leaf stage and drought stress during stem elongation.  Our study demonstrated that drought priming significantly increased the photosynthetic rate of flag leaves by approximately 25.7% and improved leaf water potential by 17.4% during drought stress.  Moreover, it mitigated oxidative damage, reducing hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde levels by 30.6 and 11.1%, respectively, during stem elongation.  Drought priming also markedly enhanced the activity of key carbon metabolism enzymes, hexokinase and fructokinase, by 170.0 and 236.0%, respectively.  This improved carbon metabolism stabilized spike differentiation, leading to increased spikelet and floret primordia formation.  Ultimately, drought priming achieved a 13.8% increase in kernel number per spike, demonstrating its potential to improve grain yield under drought conditions.  This study innovatively reveals the "carbon homeostasis-spike development" coordination mechanism underlying drought priming-enhanced reproductive stress tolerance. The findings advance our understanding of stress memory spatiotemporal regulation in crops and offer transformative solutions for stabilizing wheat production under climate change scenarios.

The application of slow-controlled release fertilizer is a simplified and labor-saving cultivation technology and can improve yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of wheat, whereas the research on the impact of a single application of different release periods controlled-release nitrogen (N) fertilizer on wheat grain quality is still limited.  In our study, urease inhibitor urea (AHA), sulfur-coated urea (SCU), combination of SCU and AHA fertilizer (BSAF) and blended slow-controlled release fertilizer (BRNF) were used to investigate the effect of slow-controlled release fertilizer on nutrient release, grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and protein content of soft wheat.  We aimed to determine the effect of one-time application of control release fertilizer on wheat grain yield and protein content and its underlying mechanisms.  The results showed that different slow-controlled release fertilizers treatments had significantly different N release rates.  AHA presented a fast release mode, SCU and BSAF presented a slow-release mode, and BRNF presented a controlled release mode.  Compared with CK, BRNF increased grain yield and decreased protein content of soft wheat, with an average increase of 7.47% in grain yield and decrease of 1.85% in protein content.  The higher N absorption of BRNF led to greater NUE, N agronomic efficiency (NAE) and N apparent recovery fraction (NRF).  However, AHA, SCU and BSAF all showed an opposite trend. Compared with CK, BRNF improved post-anthesis dry matter accumulation (PDMA) and contribution rate of dry matter accumulated post-anthesis to the grain (CDA), while decreasing post-anthesis N accumulation (PNA) and the contribution rate of post-anthesis N accumulation to grain (CNA).  The main reasons for the improve in yield and decrease in protein content were related to the increase in PDMA and CDA, and the decrease in PNA and CNA, respectively.  Therefore, BRNF was an effective agronomic strategy to promote the coordination of grain yield and quality of soft wheat