The increasing human population and the associated activities have negatively influenced the ecosystems and life on earth. The continuous addition of agrochemicals, heavy metals and industrial wastes/ effluents in the ecosystems have caused great harm, including loss of productivity, biodiversity, climate change and diseases in plants, animals and humans, resulting in increased marginal lands and endangered sustainability of life on earth. Hence, there is an urgent need to reverse the impact of dangerous pollutants through a holistic, sustainable and biotic approach. Bioremediation involves the utilization of biological systems, mainly plants (phytoremediation) or microorganisms or both in combination (rhizoremediation) for the removal or degradation of pollutants and revive the habitats in an eco-friendly manner. Recently, there have been many success stories related to bioremediation involving plants or plant-microbe interactions. These success stories are related to the removal of heavy metals, pesticides, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, explosives, radionuclides or reduction of biological oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, oil spills in water bodies. Rhizoremediation has also been successfully used for reclamation of saline or marginal soils. With the range of pollutants and the total area (on earth) covered by these toxic chemicals, it is important that these eco-friendly technologies be utilized in a better way. The book throws light on the recent happenings, research and success stories related to bioremediation of polluted habitats through phytoremediation or rhizoremediation. The book also highlights some of the significantly important plant and microbial species involved in remediation, the physiology, biochemistry and the mechanisms of remediation by various plants and microbes, and suggestions for future improvement of bioremediation technology.

The present book investigates various dimensions of environmental protection and degradation. It contain original and review research articles from science as well as literature fields. Broadly speaking it covers the areas like environmental degradation, issues of pollution, geo-environmental predicament, Eco criticism and environmental consciousness in English literature. The main purpose of the book is to investigate present predicament of environmental degradation and to discuss the possible solutions in a scientific way for the protection of environment. At present the books available on the topic of environmental protection does not cover all the dimensions and most of them are particular path oriented like resources on biodiversity, pollution, etc. the present book fulfils this lacuna and explores environment from various perspectives in a scientific way. The book also discusses reflection of environmental consciousness in literature. Since environmental degradation and protection is a multi-layered phenomenon, this book will be helpful to the teachers, students and researchers who wish to understand various dimensions of the environmental issues with possible scientific solutions.

Bio- and Phyto-remediation have been seen in the past by scientists as two independent “green technologies”, employing separately either microorganisms (bacteria and/or fungi), or plants to reclaim polluted soil, water and air. However, in the last decade, the idea has emerged that microorganisms and plants can and have to work synergistically to obtain better results in terms of reclamation performances; hence these two technologies have to be considered the different sides of the same coin. Therefore a single term can be used to refer to both of these technologies: bio-remediation. The Research Topic articles, collected in this eBook, report the isolation and characterization of bacteria, fungi and endophytes with Plant Growth Promoting features. Moreover, some of these microorganisms have been added to plants to ameliorate their health status when grown in polluted soils and waters; or to realize and improve the water reclamation performance of Constructed Wetlands, a very interesting application of the bio-remediation process.

Plant hormones are among the most essential biochemicals found in plants. Since Charles and Francis Darwin identified auxin action, several plant hormones have been discovered. These small signaling molecules regulate not only developmental and growth activities, but also stress responses throughout the plant’s life cycle. This book discusses recent advances, new perspectives, and applications of plant hormones. It is a useful resource for academics, scientists, students, and industry professionals.

Microbiome Drivers of Ecosystem Function focuses on the advancements in microbial technologies towards harnessing the microbiome for improved crop productivity and health that are at the frontier of agricultural sciences. It provides insights into the diversity of endophytic microbiomes and their potential utility in agricultural production.Increased crop yield through chemical interventions have limit thresholds and alternative, natural and/or integrated approaches are increasingly needed. Microbial inoculants among the ways in which food production efficiency can be improved. Plant growth-promoting soil organisms increase net crop uptake of soil nutrients, resulting in larger crops and higher yields of harvested food. These and other symbiotic associations between plants and microbes can ultimately be exploited for the increased food production necessary to feed the world, in addition to creating safer farming techniques that minimize ecological disruption.As a volume in the Microbiome Research in Plants and Soil series, Microbiome Drivers of Ecosystem Function serves as an ideal reference for researchers and students in the fields of agricultural biotechnology, biochemistry, environmental science, plant biology, agricultural sciences, and agricultural engineering. - Provides insights on engineered microbes in sustainable agriculture, recent biotechnological developments, and future prospects - Introduces microbes as chief ecological engineers in reinstating equilibrium in degraded ecosystems - Presents the current state and development, as well as future challenges in studying plant-microbe interactions - Discusses endophytic microbiomes and other microbial consortium with multifunctional plant growth-promoting attributes

This edited book deals with land regeneration and management using living organisms for a sustainable future. It brings together the latest developments made by leading biotechnologists, bioengineers and environmental scientists in the area of land remediation. The chapters cover different aspects of soil's conventional and emerging pollutants (synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals). Global population is rapidly affected by this catastrophic situation, industrialization and overuse of chemical compounds. There are currently many bioengineering strategies used to eliminate these dangerous chemicals. In this book, the chapters present the current evidence and comprehensive studies that may be useful for reader. It provides a comprehensive text thereby filling the gap in the literature. The contents of the book further deliver a good understanding of emerging environmental contaminants and their sustainable remediation through the use of bioengineering tools and techniques.This book is of interest to industry experts, researchers, academicians in bioengineering and biomedical sciences, graduates and undergraduates in Biotechnology, Microbiology, Environmental Sciences, Health, Clinical and Pharmaceutical Sciences. It is also a useful read for national and international agricultural scientists and policy makers.

Cadmium Toxicity and Tolerance in Plants: From Physiology to Remediation presents a single research resource on the latest in cadmium toxicity and tolerance in plants. The book covers many important areas, including means of Cd reduction, from plant adaptation, including antioxidant defense, active excretion and chelation, to phytoextraction, rhizo filtration, phytodegradation, and much more. In addition, it explores important insights into the physiological and molecular mechanisms of Cd uptake and transport and presents options for improving resistance to Cd stresses. It will be ideal for both researchers and students working on cadmium pollution, plant responses and related fields of environmental contamination and toxicology. - Includes all aspects of cadmium toxicity and tolerance in plants - Provides a comprehensive overview of advances in cadmium toxicity, tolerance and adaptation in plants - Elaborates on the advancement of eco-friendly techniques for cadmium remediation from soil and water - Provides real-world, application focused techniques

This book compiles various methodologies used in understanding interactions within the rhizosphere. An in-depth understanding of the rhizosphere is essential to developing successful strategies for future sustainable agriculture. The book summarizes methods and techniques used to study the mechanisms involved in mutualistic symbioses and pathogenic interactions of plants with various microbial organisms including fungi, bacteria, and oomycetes. Each chapter discusses different methodologies used in rhizosphere biology, while also providing real-world experimental data and trouble-shooting tips. Interested researchers will also find a wealth of literature references for further research. As the first comprehensive manual and compilation of methods and techniques used in rhizosphere biology, the book represents an essential resource for all researchers who are newcomers to soil microbiology experimentation.

This book puts an updated account on functional aspects of multiphasic microbial interactions within and between plants and their ecosystem. Multipronged interaction in the soil microbial communities with the plants constitute a relay of mechanisms that make profound changes in plant and its micro-environment in the rhizopshere at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels. In agro-ecological perspectives, such interactions are known to recycle nutrients and regulate signalling molecules, phytohormones and other small molecules that help plant growth and development. Such aspects are described deeply in this book taking examples from various crop plants and microbial systems. Authors described the most advantageous prospects of plant-microbe interaction in terms of inoculation of beneficial microorganisms (microbial inoculants) with the plants in which microbes proliferate in the root rhizosphere system and benefit plants' with definite functions like fixation of nitrogen, solubilization and mobilization of P, K, Zn and production of phytohormones. The subject of this book and the content presented herein has great relevance to the agro-ecological sustainability of crop plants with the help of microbial interactions. The chapters presented focus on defining and assessing the impact of beneficial microbial interactions on different soils, crops and abiotic conditions. This volume entails about exploiting beneficial microbial interactions to help plants under abiotic conditions, microbe-mediated induced systemic tolerance, role of mycorrhizal interactions in improving plant tolerance against stresses, PGPR as nutrient mobilizers, phytostimulants, antagonists and biocontrol agents, plant interactions with Trichoderma and other bioagents for sustainable intensification in agriculture, cyanobacteria as PGPRs, plant microbiome for crop management and phytoremediation and rhizoremediation using microbial communities. The overall content entrust advanced knowledge and applicability of diversified biotechnological, techno-commercial and agro-ecological aspects of microbial interactions and inoculants as inputs, which upon inoculation with crop plants benefit them in multiple ways.

The soil is being contaminated continuously by a large number of pollutants. Among them, heavy metals are an exclusive group of toxicants because they are stable and difficult to disseminate into non-toxic forms. The ever-increasing concentrations of such pollutants in the soil are considered serious threats toward everyone's health and the environment. Many techniques are used to clean, eliminate, obliterate or sequester these hazardous pollutants from the soil. However, these techniques can be costly, labor intensive, and often disquieting. Phytoremediation is a simple, cost effective, environmental friendly and fast-emerging new technology for eliminating toxic heavy metals and other related soil pollutants. Soil Remediation and Plants provides a common platform for biologists, agricultural engineers, environmental scientists, and chemists, working with a common aim of finding sustainable solutions to various environmental issues. The book provides an overview of ecosystem approaches and phytotechnologies and their cumulative significance in relation to solving various environmental problems. - Identifies the molecular mechanisms through which plants are able to remediate pollutants from the soil - Examines the challenges and possibilities towards the various phytoremediation candidates - Includes the latest research and ongoing progress in phytoremediation