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.
Surender Singh
Prof. Surender Singh received his BSc (Hons.) Agriculture from Chaudhary Charan Singh
Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar (India). He obtained his MSc and PhD in Microbiology
from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, in 2005 and 2009, respectively, before
joining as Scientist (ARS) in IARI, New Delhi. He joined Central University of Haryana in 2018.
His research focuses on the development of multi-stress tolerant bioinoculants and organic
matter recycling including bioethanol production from lignocellulosic material. He was awarded
the prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship (2011) by Government of Australia for his
academic excellence to carry out 6-month research in University of South Australia, Adelaide. He
was also awarded with Young Scientist Award 2015 by Association of Microbiologists of India
(AMI), Young Scientist Award (2015-2016) by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS),
New Delhi, and Haryana Yuva Vigyan Ratan (2018) by Department of Science and Technology,
Government of Haryana. Dr. Singh has been involved in six research projects funded extramurally
by ICAR, DBT, DST, and MoEF (Government of India). He is currently supervising six doctoral
scholars and has supervised 15 PG dissertations in the past. He has authored more than 80 research
articles, 1 book, and 15 book chapters and is an active reviewer for many reputed journals in
microbiological research. He is also an editorial board member of Electronic Journal of
Biotechnology and Frontiers of Microbiology. Prof. Singh is a Life member of Association of
Microbiologists of India (AMI) and Indian Science Congress.
Radha Prasanna
Dr. Radha Prasanna completed her Masters and PhD programs from Indian Agricultural Research
Institute (ICAR-IARI), joined as Scientist in 1996, and presently serves as Principal Scientist,
Division of Microbiology, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi. Her major interests include investigations in
the areas of natural resource management and crop protection, through deploying integrated
nutrient/disease management strategies and modern omics tools. She is passionate toward
diversifying the role of cyanobacteria and their consortia in crops, besides rice, and their significant
role as plant growth promoting inoculants for wheat, maize, cotton, legumes, and vegetable crops
and as biocontrol agents against phytopathogenic fungi in cereal and vegetable crops.
She is actively involved in post-graduate teaching and research guidance of MSc/PhD students
at ICAR-IARI. She has been recognized as Outstanding Reviewer by Elsevier, Springer, and
Wiley journals, besides being identified as Top Peer Reviewer by Publons. She is serving as
Associate Editor, BMC Microbiology and CABI Agriculture and Bioscience, and Member,
Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Basic Microbiology. She has published more than 230
research papers in peer-reviewed journals, most of them being highly cited. She is the recipient of
NAAS Fellowship (2022), Fellowship of the Academy of Microbiological Sciences (FAMSc
2019), Hari Krishna Shastri Award (2017), ICAR Panjabrao Deshmukh Outstanding Woman
Scientist Award (2012), and IARI Best Teacher Award (2008), for her outstanding contributions
to research and teaching.
Kumar Pranaw
Dr. Kumar Pranaw completed his bachelor's in 2006 with BSc (Hons.) Microbiology from Sam
Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences, Allahabad, India. He obtained his
Master's degree in Microbiology from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India, in 2008. He
joined Indian Agricultural Research Institute in 2009 as Senior Research Fellow and started
working on microbial enzymes and their role in bio-pesticidal activity as well as in bioremediation.
He registered for his doctoral study at the National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, India, in
collaboration with the Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi, India, and received his
PhD (Biotechnology) in 2014. His expertise has been enriched by academic as well as industrial
research experience at eminent national and international institutions. Currently, he leads a
multinational research group at the University of Warsaw, Poland, which works toward
innovative solutions for realizing the zero-waste circular economy concept by probing plant
growth-promoting bacteria for sustainable agriculture and utilizing the generated agro-wastes for
high value-added products. Presently, he is supervising two postdocs and two doctoral scholars and
has supervised several PG/UG dissertations in the past. He has authored more than 20 research
articles in different peer-reviewed journals and is an active reviewer for many reputed international
journals in the field of applied microbiology, sustainable agriculture and environment, and waste
valorization. He has presented his research achievements at several national and international
conferences. He is actively engaged in different professional societies like Life member at the
Association of Microbiologists of India; Life member at The Biotech Research Society, India;
Member of American Society for Microbiologists, USA; and Member of European Federation of
Biotechnology.
