This book looks at the interaction between plants and nanomaterials/nanocomposites, and their effects ecology, the food chain and human health. It focuses on nanomaterials/nanocomposites phytotoxicity, which is an important precondition to promote the application of nanotechnology and to avoid the potential ecological risks. It describes the influencing factors of nanotoxicity of nanomaterials and the mechanisms of these toxic effects and defense mechanisms in plants. The chapters in this book are written by internationally renowned researchers and professionals and provides exciting and remarkable information (on the above-mentioned topics) to the scientist, researcher and student working field of plant biology, agricultural science, nanobiotechnology, plant biochemistry, plant physiology, plant biotechnology and many other interdisciplinary subjects.

The book in hand, namely “Metal and Metal-Oxide Based Nanomaterials (Synthesis, Agricultural, Biomedical and Environmental Interventions”, focuses on the synthesis methods, characterization techniques, and diverse interventions utilizing these nanomaterials in the fields of agriculture, biomedicine, and environmental remediation. The specific applications discussed include food packaging, post-harvest disease management, crop production, drug delivery systems, other biomedical applications, photocatalytic degradation of environmental pollutants, and wastewater treatment. Additionally, it also addresses the potential risks associated with zinc nanoparticles in aquatic ecosystems and emphasizes the importance of further research and regulation in this field. Overall, the book provides valuable insights and serves as a comprehensive resource for researchers and scientists across various interdisciplinary subjects. It serves as a valuable resource for scientists, researchers, and students in nanotechnology, nanomedicine, environmental science, plant science, agriculture, chemistry, biotechnology, pharmacognosy, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemistry, and other interdisciplinary subjects. Moreover, this also inspires further research, innovation, and the development of sustainable solutions for a better future.

Essential Minerals in Plant-Soil Systems: Coordination, Signaling and Interaction Under Adverse Conditions is the first book to encompass these key aspects of plant science, biochemistry, soil science and fertilizer development in a single volume. Describing the micro- and macronutrients in the plant-soil system with the help of suitable illustrations, the book connects all the pieces enabling comprehensive and connected understanding. Terrestrial plants are sessile in nature. They face various adverse environmental conditions including soil nutrient-deficiency signals, which influence overall plant growth and development. Some of the essential nutrients are unreachable to roots due to their low solubility and relative immobilization. Thus, the soil-plant system has evolved signaling, communication and coordination responses for survival under multiple adverse situations. By evolving highly sophisticated mechanisms at the cellular as well as whole-plant scale, these plants have developed ways to co-regulate these stresses in order to maintain homeostasis. Essential Minerals in Plant-Soil Systems covers recent advances in the understanding of how plants coordinate the acquisition, transport, signaling, and interaction, cross-talks between macro- and micro-nutrients in adverse environmental situations. These points are key to understanding the significance of essential, as well as beneficial, elements for sustainable plant growth and production. This book is a valuable reference for those putting research into practice in addressing stress situations, as well as providing important foundational insights for further research. - Provides a comprehensive overview of micro- and macronutrients and their interaction with phytohormones under stress conditions - Explores proteomic and genomic research into deficiencies and toxicities in plant systems - Highlights the use of nanobiotechnology for controlled release of micro- and macronutrients in the plant-soil systems

Environmental pollution is a worldwide concern now. A major section of the world population is struggling for drinking water. Polluted soil is resulting into low agricultural productivity and thus creating challenges in the way of sustainable livelihood of a large section of human population. Biological treatment can offer both green solutions for wastewater treatment and resource recovery as well. Like algal-based systems can be utilized for wastewater treatment and production of biofuels from the biomass grown on the wastewater. Bio-based nanomaterials have been extensively studied for their employability in the health care, process optimization, water resource management, dealing with environmental pollutants, biosensors, and many others. Bioprospecting of novel biological agents, bio-based products, and bioresource recovery are paving the way for sustainable development as they are providing local solutions for a number of problems. In this proposed book, we start with the introduction to bio-nanotechnological principles and later on discuss bio-based nanomaterials employability for a diverse range of applications from environment to energy to health care. This book provides with current trends in bio-nanotechnology for anthropogonic purposes, prospects, challenges, and way forward.

This book gives a complete overview of current developments on the green synthesis and extraction of nano-emulsions for numerous uses in food, agriculture, biomedical, and cosmetics sectors. In the food and agriculture section, the book demonstrates the use of nano-emulsions to deliver nutraceuticals, coloring, and flavoring agents, in the development of biodegradable coating, improving the quality of packing films and enhancing the shelf life and nutritional value of foods. It also shows that nano-emulsions are very good for pesticides formulation where it enhances the solubility of poorly water-soluble pesticides, resulting in increased pesticide bioactivity compared to conventional pesticides. In the biomedicine applications section, the chapters show that nano-emulsion can dissolve hydrophobic drugs and is used as a drug delivery system for many cancers treatment such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, liver, and gastric cancer. Also, nano-emulsions are an excellent candidate for encapsulating drugs or imaging probes for targeted delivery and immunotherapy. This book caters to scientists, researchers, and students interested in nanotechnology, nanomedicine, environmental science, plant science, agriculture, chemistry, biotechnology, pharmacognosy, pharmaceuticals, industrial chemistry, and many other interdisciplinary subjects.

This book highlights the recent advancement in point-of-care testing (POCT) technologies utilizing ‘smart’ nanomaterials for the analysis of biomarkers related to disease, which includes metabolites, enzymes, proteins, nucleic acids, cancer cells and multidrug-resistant pathogen. The POCT refers to medical diagnostic tests performed near the place and time of patient care. During the recent pandemic of COVID-19, many realized the importance of affordable, rapid and accurate POCT devices and their usefulness to combat the spread of the infection. The chapters in this book describe the emergence of ‘smart’ nanomaterials with unique physical and chemical properties being utilized in POCT devices for immobilizing biorecognition elements and labels for signal generation, transduction and amplification. It showcases the applications of these smart nanomaterials and their superiority in developing point-of-care diagnostics devices in a wide range of applied fields like food industry, agriculture sector, water quality assessment, pharmaceuticals and tissue engineering. It also looks into the challenges associated and future direction of research in this promising field. This book caters as reference book for researches from the field of nanobiotechnology and biomedical sciences who are interested in the development of rapid, affordable and accurate POCT devices.

Biostimulants (a diverse class of compounds including substances or microorganisms) are helpful in sustainable plants growth and development. They accelerate plant growth, yield, and chemical composition even under unfavorable conditions. The main biostimulants are nitrogen-containing compounds, humic materials, some specific compounds released by microbes, plants, and animals, various seaweed extracts, bio-based nanomaterials, phosphite, silicon, and so on. Additionally, new generation products and bioproducts are being developed for sustainable plant growth and protection. Some research works in the area of biotechnology and nanobiotechnology have shown improved sustainable plant growth and production. The protective roles of biostimulants are varied depends on the compound and plant species. Exposure of biostimulants have shown accelerated plants growth and developmental processes for instance, manage stomatal conductance and rate of transpiration, and increase rate of photosynthesis etc. They also increased crop plants immune systems against the adverse situation. Thus, use of innovations of new generation biostimulants also enhance plant production systems, through a significant reduction of synthetic chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers. Moreover, bioinoculants commercial products obtained from seaweed extract, humic acids, amino acids, fulvic acids, and some microbial inoculants have shown their potential role in adventitious root induction in plants. Microbial inoculants or microbial-based biostimulants, as a promising and eco-friendly technology, can be widely used to address environmental concerns and fulfill the need for developing sustainable or modern agriculture practices. They have great potential to elicit plant tolerance to various climate change-related stresses and thus enhance plant growth and overall performance-related features. However, for successful implementation biostimulants-based agriculture in the field under changing climate conditions, an understanding of plant functions and biostimulants interaction or action mechanisms coping with various abiotic as well as biotic stresses at the physicochemical, metabolic, and molecular levels is required. Mycorrhizae are beneficial fungi that form symbiotic associations with plants and aid in plant development, disease resistance, and soil health is well established. Similarly, phyllospheric microbiome are known to possess different plant growth promotion attributes like nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, biocontrol activity, and increase plant resistance towards abiotic stresses. The plant growth promotion traits possessed by these phyllospheric microbiota can be judiciously harbored for phyllospheric and rhizospheric engineering. The engineered phyllospheric and rhizospheric microbiome can increase the plant growth and productivity, thereby, can act as a driving force for increasing the agricultural production in a sustainable manner. Taken together, this book aims to contribute to the recent understanding associated with the various role and application of biostimulants on different plant for their sustainable growth and management. - Discusses our current understanding of, and advances in, biostimulants, along with their application in plants growth performance and overall management - Explores new techniques, new generation products, and bioproducts - Highlights the role of seaweed extract, humic acids, protein hydrolysates, amino acids, melatonin, paramylon, fulvic acids, microbial inoculants (phyllospheric and rhizospheric), and more