Bioinoculants: Biological Option for Mitigating global Climate Change


Book Description

This edited book covers various bioinoculants for sustainable crop production under the changing global climate. The book envisages a compilation of articles relevant to the current status of production and use of novel microbial inoculants for different crops and highlights their role in mitigating global climate challenges. These include nutrient deficiencies, salinity, drought, and emerging pathogens. In addition, success stories and commercialization aspects are also discussed. Growing environmental concerns related to climate change can potentially decrease the global yield capacity of agricultural systems. Agricultural productivity is severely affected by major biotic and abiotic factors. The phytomicrobiome plays a critical role in the survival of the holobiont, particularly for plants growing in extreme environments. The use of microbial-based agricultural inputs has a long history, beginning with a broad-scale rhizobial inoculation of legumes in the early twentieth century. Microbial inoculants are considered one of the best and most effective strategies for sustainable agriculture under climate change, and a viable solution to meet the twin challenges of global food security and environmental sustainability. It is therefore imperative to understand the current status and development in the area of bioinoculants from a global perspective. The chapter’s focus would be on major agro-ecologies, covering all major crops across the globe, along with the commercialization status of different bioinoculants in different countries The book caters to the needs of the students, faculty, policymakers, and researchers working in the area of microbiology, biotechnology, environmental sciences, and botany.




Horticultural Crops


Book Description

Horticultural crops are important for human nutrition. To guarantee successful cultivation for quality and quantity yield, proper identification of pests and diseases, as well as abiotic factors undermining their production, is essential. This ten-chapter textbook describes fungi, bacteria, insects, and nematodes as important issues in horticulture. It documents their epidemiology and management strategies such as genetics and botanical and biological control used for their management. This comprehensive resource is essential for students and researchers of plant genetics, pathology, entomology, and nematology.




Soil Biological Fertility


Book Description

It is becoming more relevant to explore soil biological processes in terms of their contribution to soil fertility. This book presents a comprehensive scientific overview of the components and processes that underpin the biological characteristics of soil fertility. It highlights the enormous diversity of life in soil and the resulting effects that management of land can have on the contribution of this diverse community to soil fertility in an agricultural context.




Soil Health and Climate Change


Book Description

“Soil Health and Climate Change” presents a comprehensive overview of the concept of soil health, including the significance of key soil attributes and management of soil health in conventional and emerging land use systems in the context of climate change. Starting with a review of the physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil health and their significance for monitoring the impacts of climate change, this book then focuses on describing the role of soil structure, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, respiration and biota in sustaining the basic functions of soil ecosystems, and their anticipated responses to climate change. Further topics include the management of cropping, pastoral, and forestry systems, and rehabilitated mine sites, with a focus on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change impacts. Finally, the opportunities and potential risks of organic farming, biochar and bioenergy systems, and their ability to sustain and even enhance soil health, are discussed.




Bioremediation and Biotechnology


Book Description

Toxic substances threatens aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and ultimately human health. The book is a thoughtful effort in bringing forth the role of biotechnology for bioremediation and restoration of the ecosystems degraded by toxic and heavy metal pollution. The introductory chapters of the book deal with the understanding of the issues concerned with the pollution caused by toxic elements and heavy metals and their impacts on the different ecosystems followed by the techniques involved in monitoring of the pollution. These techniques include use of bio-indicators as well as modern techniques for the assessment and monitoring of toxicants in the environment. Detailed chapters discussing the role of microbial biota, aquatic plants, terrestrial plants to enhance the accumulation efficiency of these toxic and heavy metals are followed by remediation techniques involving myco-remediation, bio-pesticides, bio-fertilizers, phyto-remediation and rhizo-filtration. A sizable portion of the book has been dedicated to the advanced bio-remediation techniques which are finding their way from the laboratory to the field for revival of the degraded ecosystems. These involve bio-films, micro-algae, genetically modified plants and filter feeders. Furthermore, the book is a detailed comprehensive account for the treatment technologies from unsustainable to sustainable. We believe academicians, researchers and students will find this book informative as a complete reference for biotechnological intervention for sustainable treatment of pollution.




Climate Change Geoengineering


Book Description

In this book, eleven prominent authorities on climate change consider the legal, policy, and philosophical issues presented by geoengineering. The book asks: When, if ever, are decisions to embark on potentially risky climate modification projects justified? If such decisions can be justified, in a world without a central governing authority, who should authorize such projects and by what moral and legal right?




New Perspectives and Approaches in Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria Research


Book Description

In the context of increasing concern for food and environmental quality, use of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) for reducing chemical inputs in agriculture is a potentially important issue. This book provides an update by renowned international experts on the most recent advances in the ecology of these important bacteria, the application of innovative methodologies for their study, their interaction with the host plant, and their potential application in agriculture.




Nutrient Use Efficiency: from Basics to Advances


Book Description

This book addresses in detail multifaceted approaches to boosting nutrient use efficiency (NUE) that are modified by plant interactions with environmental variables and combine physiological, microbial, biotechnological and agronomic aspects. Conveying an in-depth understanding of the topic will spark the development of new cultivars and strains to induce NUE, coupled with best management practices that will immensely benefit agricultural systems, safeguarding their soil, water, and air quality. Written by recognized experts in the field, the book is intended to provide students, scientists and policymakers with essential insights into holistic approaches to NUE, as well as an overview of some successful case studies. In the present understanding of agriculture, NUE represents a question of process optimization in response to the increasing fragility of our natural resources base and threats to food grain security across the globe. Further improving nutrient use efficiency is a prerequisite to reducing production costs, expanding crop acreage into non-competitive marginal lands with low nutrient resources, and preventing environmental contamination. The nutrients most commonly limiting plant growth are N, P, K, S and micronutrients like Fe, Zn, B and Mo. NUE depends on the ability to efficiently take up the nutrient from the soil, but also on transport, storage, mobilization, usage within the plant and the environment. A number of approaches can help us to understand NUE as a whole. One involves adopting best crop management practices that take into account root-induced rhizosphere processes, which play a pivotal role in controlling nutrient dynamics in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. New technologies, from basic tools like leaf color charts to sophisticated sensor-based systems and laser land leveling, can reduce the dependency on laboratory assistance and manual labor. Another approach concerns the development of crop plants through genetic manipulations that allow them to take up and assimilate nutrients more efficiently, as well as identifying processes of plant responses to nutrient deficiency stress and exploring natural genetic variation. Though only recently introduced, the ability of microbial inoculants to induce NUE is gaining in importance, as the loss, immobilization, release and availability of nutrients are mediated by soil microbial processes.




Signaling in the Phytomicrobiome


Book Description

A plant growing under field conditions is not a simple individual; it is a community. We now know that there is a community of microbes associated with all parts of the plant, and that the root associated community is particularly large. This microbial community, the phytomicrobiome, is complex, regulated and the result of almost half a billion years of evolution. Circumstances that benefit the plant generally benefit the phytomicrobiome, and vice versa. Members of the holobiont modulate each other's activities, in part, through molecular signals, acting as the hormones of the holobiont. The plant plus the phytomicrobiome constitute the holobiont, the resulting entity that is that community. The phytomicrobiome is complex, well developed and well-orchestrated, and there is considerable potential in managing this system. The use of “biologicals” will develop during the 21st century and play as large a role as agro-chemistry did in the 20th century. Biologicals can be deployed to enhance plant pathogen resistance, improve plant access to nutrients and improve stress tolerance. They can be used to enhance crop productivity, to meet the expanding demands for plant material as food, fibre and fuel. They can assist crop plants in dealing with the more frequent and more extreme episodes of stress that will occur as climate change conditions continue to develop. The path is clear and we have started down it; there is a considerable distance remaining.




Microbial Inoculants in Sustainable Agricultural Productivity


Book Description

How to achieve sustainable agricultural production without compromising environmental quality, agro-ecosystem function and biodiversity is a serious consideration in current agricultural practices. Farming systems’ growing dependency on chemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, nutrients etc.) poses serious threats with regard to crop productivity, soil fertility, the nutritional value of farm produce, management of pests and diseases, agro-ecosystem well-being, and health issues for humans and animals. At the same time, microbial inoculants in the form of biofertilizers, plant growth promoters, biopesticides, soil health managers, etc. have gained considerable attention among researchers, agriculturists, farmers and policy makers. The first volume of the book Microbial Inoculants in Sustainable Agricultural Productivity - Research Perspectives highlights the efforts of global experts with regard to various aspects of microbial inoculants. Emphasis is placed on recent advances in microbiological techniques for the isolation, characterization, identification and evaluation of functional properties using biochemical and molecular tools. The taxonomic characterization of agriculturally important microorganisms is documented, along with their applications in field conditions. The book exploresthe identification, characterization and diversity analysis of endophytic microorganisms in various crops including legumes/ non-legumes, as well as the assessment of their beneficial impacts in the context of promotingplant growth. Moreover, it provides essential updates onthe diversity and role of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and arbuscular mycorrhizal mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). Further chaptersexamine in detailbiopesticides, thehigh-density cultivation of bioinoculants in submerged culture, seed biopriming strategies for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, andPGPR as abio-control agent. Given its content,the book offers a valuable resource for researchers involved in research and development concerningPGPR, biopesticides and microbial inoculants.