Current Trends in Microbial Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Soil Microbiomes for Healthy Nutrient Recycling

   • Shiv Prasad, Lal Chand Malav, Jairam Choudhary, Sudha Kannojiya, Monika Kundu, Sandeep Kumar et al.

   Pages 1-21

3. Soil Microbial Diversity: Calling Citizens for Sustainable Agricultural Development

   • Prasann Kumar, Shipa Rani Dey

   Pages 23-49

4. Metagenomics in Deciphering Microbial Communities Associated with Medicinal Plants

   • Hira Saleem, Hareem Mohsin, Azka Asif, Rabia Tanvir, Yasir Rehman

   Pages 51-78

5. Role of Metagenomics in Deciphering the Microbial Communities Associated with Rhizosphere of Economically Important Plants

   • Priyanka Jha, Vijay Kumar

   Pages 79-94

6. Plant–Microbe Association for Mutual Benefits for Plant Growth and Soil Health

   • Surajit De Mandal, Sonali, Simranjeet Singh, Kashif Hussain, Touseef Hussain

   Pages 95-121

7. Deciphering and Harnessing Plant Microbiomes: Detangling the Patterns and Process—A Clean, Green Road to Sustainable Agriculture

   • Jayakumar Pathma, Ashim Debnath, Jyoti Bhimgonda Patil, Laxman Sonawane Bhushan

   Pages 123-159

8. Rhizosphere Biology: A Key to Agricultural Sustainability

   • Simranjeet Singh, Vijay Kumar, Daljeet Singh Dhanjal, Sonali, Vaishali Dhaka, Siddharth Thotapalli et al.

   Pages 161-182

9. Rhizosphere Microbiomes and Their Potential Role in Increasing Soil Fertility and Crop Productivity

   • Sara Atef Gezaf, Hebtallah H. Abo Mahas, Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem

   Pages 183-201

10. Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR): Current and Future Prospects for Crop Improvement

    • Kapil Gupta, Neeraj Kumar Dubey, Satendra Pal Singh, Jasmin Kumar Kheni, Shubhra Gupta, Akash Varshney

    Pages 203-226

11. Beneficial Microbiomes for Sustainable Agriculture: An Ecofriendly Approach

    • Hina Upadhyay, Diptanu Banik, Muhammad Aslam, Jatinder Singh

    Pages 227-244

12. Endophytic Microbiomes and Their Plant Growth-Promoting Attributes for Plant Health

    • Sougata Ghosh, Tanay Bhagwat, Thomas J. Webster

    Pages 245-278

13. Mycorrhiza: A Sustainable Option for Better Crop Production

    • Sanjeev Kumar, Saurabh Saxena, Samiksha

    Pages 279-299

14. Phyllospheric Microbes: Diversity, Functions, Interaction, and Applications in Agriculture

    • Rupal Gupta, Ravishankar Patil

    Pages 301-323

15. Mitigation Strategies for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants Through Stress-Tolerant Plant Growth-Promoting Microbes

    • Salma Mukhtar, Kauser Abdulla Malik, Samina Mehnaz, Zabish Khaliq

    Pages 325-351

16. Plant- and Microbes-Mediated Secondary Metabolites: Remunerative Venture for Discovery and Development

    • Prasann Kumar, Shipa Rani Dey, Padmanabh Dwivedi

    Pages 353-385

17. Potential Strategies for Control of Agricultural Occupational Health Hazards

    • Vinod Pravin Sharma, Simranjeet Singh, Daljeet Singh Dhanjal, Joginder Singh, Ajar Nath Yadav

    Pages 387-402

18. Insecticides Derived from Natural Products: Diversity and Potential Applications

    • Johnson Wahengbam, Laxman Sonawane Bhushan, Jyoti B. Patil, Jayakumar Pathma

    Pages 403-437

19. Bacillus thuringiensis as Potential Biocontrol Agent for Sustainable Agriculture

    • Manoj Baliram Pohare, Sopan Ganpatrao Wagh, Varatharajalu Udayasuriyan

    Pages 439-468

20. Entomopathogenic Microbes for Sustainable Crop Protection: Future Perspectives

    • P. S. Soumia, Ram Krishna, Durgesh Kumar Jaiswal, Jay Prakash Verma, Janardan Yadav, Major Singh

    Pages 469-497

Microbial biotechnology is an emerging field with applications in a broad range of sectors involving food security, human nutrition, plant protection and overall basic research in the agricultural sciences. The environment has been sustaining the burden of mankind from time immemorial, and our indiscriminate use of its resources has led to the degradation of the climate, loss of soil fertility, and the need for sustainable strategies. 

The major focus in the coming decades will be on achieving a green and clean environment by utilizing soil and plant-associated beneficial microbial communities. Plant-microbe interactions include the association of microbes with plant systems: epiphytic, endophytic and rhizospheric. The microbes associated with plant ecosystems play an important role in plant growth, development, and soil health. Moreover, soil and plant microbiomes help to promote plant growth, either directly or indirectly by means of plant growth-promoting mechanisms, e.g.the release of plant growth regulators; solubilization of phosphorus, potassium and zinc; biological nitrogen fixation; or by producing siderophores, ammonia, HCN and other secondary metabolites.  

These beneficial microbial communities represent a novel and promising solution for agro-environmental sustainability by providing biofertilizers, bioprotectants, and biostimulants, in addition to mitigating various types of abiotic stress in plants. This book focuses on plant-microbe interactions; the biodiversity of soil and plant microbiomes; and their role in plant growth and soil health. Accordingly, it will be immensely useful to readers working in the biological sciences, especially microbiologists, biochemists and microbial biotechnologists. 

• Biocontrol
• Biodiversity
• Biofertilizers
• Fungal Biotechnology
• Plant growth promotion
• Sustainable Agriculture

• Department of Biotechnology, Dr. Khem Singh Gill Akal College of Agriculture Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Sirmour, India

  Ajar Nath Yadav

• Department of Microbiology, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India

  Joginder Singh

• Department of Environmental Microbiology, Babasaheb Ambedkar University, Lucknow, India

  Chhatarpal Singh

• Veer Bahadur Singh Purvanchal University, Jaunpur, India

  Neelam Yadav

Ajar Nath Yadav is an Assistant Professor (Sr. Scale) in Department of Biotechnology, Dr. Khem Singh Gill Akal College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Baru Sahib, Himachal Pradesh, India. Dr. Yadav has 174 publications, with h-index of 36, i10-index of 74, and 3121 citations (Google Scholar). Dr. Yadav has got 12 Best Paper Presentation Awards, 01 Young Scientist Award (NASI-Swarna Jayanti Purskar) and “Outstanding Teacher Award” Dr. Yadav has a long-standing interest in teaching at the UG, PG and PhD level and is involved in taking courses in microbiology, and microbial biotechnology. He has been serving as an editor/editorial board member and reviewer for different national and international peer-reviewed journals. He has lifetime membership of Association of Microbiologist in India, and Indian Science Congress Council, India. 

Joginder Singh is Professor at Department of Microbiology, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India. Previously, he has worked as Young Scientist at Microbial Biotechnology and Biofertilizer Laboratory, Department of Botany, Jai Narain Vyas University funded by the DST, Govt. of India. He has more than 60 research and review articles in the peer-reviewed journals, edited six books entitled and authored 30 chapters in edited books. He serves as a reviewer for many prestigious journals. He is an active member of various scientific societies and organizations including, Association of Microbiologists of India, K. K. Nanda Foundation for Advancement of Plant Sciences, Indian Society for Radiation Biology, International Phytotechnology Society and European Federation of Biotechnology.

Chhatarpal Singh is a President of Agro Environmental Development Society (AEDS), Majhra Ghat, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Dr. Singh is currently working in the field of Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology; the research interest is agro environmental development through various scientific andinnovative approaches viz. Bio-formulation and crop residue mediated biochar applications for the improvement of soil fertility, and agriculture production. He has published various scientific research and reviews papers, book chapter and magazine articles in the field of agricultural and environmental microbiology. He has been honored by various organizations for his outstanding contribution in the field of Agricultural Microbiology. Dr. Singh has organized various International Conference and Training Programm in the fields of agriculture, environment and applied sciences.

Neelam Yadav is currently working on microbial diversity from diverse sources and their biotechnological applications agriculture and allied sectors. She has research interest in the area of beneficial microbiomes and their biotechnological application in agriculture, environment and allied sectors. In her credit 45 publications in different reputed international, national journals andpublishers. She is editor of five books in Springer, two in Elsevier and two in CRC Press, Taylor and Francis. She is Editor/associate editor/reviewer of different international and national journals. She has the lifetime membership of Association of microbiologist in India, Indian Science Congress Council, India and National Academy of Sciences, India.

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