Microbial Diversity and Biotechnology in Food Security

The roles of microbes in agriculture, industry and environment have been the point of interest since long time for their potential exploitation. Although only a fraction of microbial diversity was accessed by microbiologists earlier for harnessing them owing to limited techniques available. The molecular techniques have opened new vistas to access the wide field of the unexplored microbes and their exploitation for useful genes and novel metabolites. Sincere efforts have been made in biotechnology using microbes leading to improve our life with respect to agriculture and people health.

This comprehensive volume covers different aspects of microbial biotechnology and its management in sustainable agriculture for food security and improved human health. The book comprises four sections: Endophytes and Mycorrhizae, Microbial Diversity and Plant Protection, Microbial Functions and Biotechnology, and Microbes and the Environment, which contain 53 chapters.

The book examines the aspects on endophytes and mycorrhizae, bioactive compounds, growth promoting microorganisms, disease management with emphasis on biocontrol, genetics of disease resistance, microbial enzymes, advances in potential of microbes and their industrial as well as pharmaceutical applications. In addition, the use of botanicals, and the etiology and management of medicinal and aromatic plants in the post harvest management have been reviewed in greater depth for the benefit of teaching and research community.

The biotechnological developments using microbe potential have enabled us combat the environment and human health problems worldwide in ecofriendly manner. We are sure that this volume will be highly useful to all those concerned with fungi, bacteria, viruses and their biology, including environmental and public health officers and professionals in the field of interest. The volume is an exhaustive coverage of almost all the aspects of microbial biology and biotechnology.

Prof. R.N. Kharwar is currently serving as a Professor in the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. More than 50 research articles, 3 reviews in international journals and 6 book chapters are to his credit. He is a fellow of MSI and IPS and recipient of Shome Memorial Lecture Award, 2012. His core areas of research include fungal and actinobacterial endophytes diversity, ecology, bioactive molecules, antioxidants and myconanotechnology. Other areas of interest include epigenetic modulations for cryptic and enhanced metabolites production from endophytes.

Prof. R.S. Upadhyay received his M.Sc. (1976) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. His main focus on research has been on biological control of plant pathogens, programmed plant cell death in response to pathogens, bioremediation of toxic effluents, induced resistance in plants and their immunization, chitinase production, mycorrhizal technology for reclamation of wastelands, and molecular basis of plant-microbe interaction. He is recipient of five national awards in the area of science, one conferred by the Prime Minister of India. In addition, he has also worked as a visiting scientist to The Royal Society, London, Research Associate of NIH, USA and INSA- JSPS, Japan.

Prof N.K. Dubey has significantly contributed to the important area of botanical pesticides. He has formulated several novel plant based preservatives that exhibit significant potency in control of biodeterioration of food from fungi, mycotoxins and insects as well as from lipid peroxidation. He has filed 4 patents, published 170 research papers and review articles, 5 books and is a recipient of several awards including Prof M J Narasimhan award and Young Scientist award. He acted as a Chairperson, Session Coordinator and Key speaker in 9th ICPP 2008, held during Aug 24-29, 2008, Torino, Italy.

Dr. Richa Raghuvanshi is Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, since 2005. Her research is focused on microbes as biofertilizers and biocontrol agents in cultivated crops and Indian medicinal plants. She has published 28 research papers, book chapters and also edited one book.