Biotechnological Approaches for Sustaining Forest Trees and Their Products

This edited book gives an in-depth coverage of various aspects of biotechnological procedures followed by international scientists and researchers to sustain growth and improvement of forests in context of current climatic change.

Forests especially trees play a crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance as well as in the functioning of natural ecosystem.  More importantly, they contribute to the economic growth of a country through its products such as timber, fuel, pharmaceuticals, fibre for textile industry and edible fruits. The denudation of trees due to urbanisation of towns/cities/villages by various construction activities and industrialisation directly impact the climate change resulting in global warming, short rainfall or erroneous weather currently experienced. This book is an effort to address these problems and attempts to find out solutions using biotechnological approaches. Most of the proposed chapters cover latest information. The proposed book deals with biotechnological aspects of forest trees such as micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, somaclonal variation, synthetic seeds, cryopreservation, disease amangement and genetic engineering. Further, applications and limitations of these approaches to improve the forest trees are discussed.

The book is of relevance to teachers, students and researchers working in area of forest and plant biotechnology globally.

Dr. Dennis Thomas T.

Dr. Dennis Thomas T. has been a Professor in the Dept. of Plant Science, School of Biological Sciences, Central University, Kasaragod, Kerala, India, from January 2016 onwards. Prof. Dennis obtained his Doctoral Degree in Botany with a specialisation in Plant tissue culture and reproductive biology from the University of Delhi, in 2000, after his graduation and post-graduation from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala.

He has completed three postdoctoral research fellowships in various fields of plant biotechnology from the University of Hamburg, Germany, in 2007-08, Hokkaido University, Japan, in 2009, and Medical University, Poland, in 2013. He had been to Hokkaido University, Japan, as a Visiting Associate Professor in 2014. He was faculty in the Postgraduate and Research Department of Botany, St. Thomas College, Pala, Kottayam (Dt) Kerala from 2000-2016 and was actively engaged in research work and teaching.

He received a BOYSCAST Fellowship 2006-07 to carry out advanced research for one year at the Department of Botany, University of Hamburg, Germany. He has been the recipient of the INSA Visiting Scientist award repeatedly for three years. He was awarded the DST young scientist's project in 2003. He has to his credit more than 100 research articles in national and International journals/seminars/symposia and two books. He has membership in various scientific societies and is a reviewer and editorial board member of various International and National journals. He has handled externally funded projects from DST, KSCSTE, and UGC and guided many postgraduate students and Ph.D. scholars.

Dr. M. K. Razdan

Dr. M. K. Razdan retired as the Principal of Shyam Lal College, a constituent of the University of Delhi. Before this, he was Vice Principal at Ramjas College (another constituent of the Delhi University), where he taught for more than three decades. Besides teaching students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Dr. Razdan was Head of the Botany Department and subsequently Co-ordinator of add-on courses on 'Biotechnology' as well as 'Environment Management and Law' at the institute. He also worked as a Visiting Scientist at USDA's Vegetable Laboratory Beltsville Agriculture Research Centre, Maryland, and later at the Department of Natural Resource Sciences and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, USA.

Much earlier, Dr. Razdan was awarded a prestigious Commonwealth Bursary by the Royal Society, London, which enabled him to do postdoctoral research in the laboratory of world-known plant scientist Professor E.C. Cocking, FRS, on plant cell and tissue culture, including somatic cell genetics, at the Department of Botany, University of Nottingham, UK. Post retirement Dr. Razdan served as a Visiting Facility of Life Sciences at IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open University), New Delhi and Advisor at Shyam Lal Charitable Trust, Delhi, India. He has publications in reputed research journals, guided students for Ph.D./M.Phil., refereed research papers for publication in scientific journals and published several books with reputed publishers like Elsevier and Science Publishers. These books have received good reviews in international scientific journals and can be accessed in libraries the world over.

Dr. Razdan was a Joint Editor and Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cytology and Genetics and has had the honour of being elected as a Fellow of the Society of Cytologists and Geneticists (FSCG). He was invited to visit Moscow in 1993 to deliver lectures and exchange scientific experience at various institutes under the Russian Academy of Science. He was invited to visit China in 2018 to deliver lectures. He has been a Member of the Delhi University Academic Council and a Member of the Delhi University Court.

Dr. Ajay Kumar

Dr. Ajay Kumar is working as an Assistant Professor of Plant Science at the Central University of Kerala, India. He obtained his PhD from the School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, where he worked under the guidance of Dr. Nirala Ramchiary, a renowned crop scientist. During his PhD, he worked on various aspects of different species of Capsicum, including capsaicinoids, and has published important papers on Capsicum and capsaicin. Dr. Ajay has more than seven years of teaching and research experience and has published several research/review articles and book chapters in reputed journals and books. He has recently edited two books with Springer Nature. He has been a member of the Academic Council and is currently a member of the University Court of the Central University of Kerala. He is a member of several academic bodies, including the Board of Studies, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Central University of Kerala. His research areas include phytochemical genomics, medicinal plants, mangrove adaptation, food security and abiotic stresses. He has successfully guided more than 30 Post Graduate students in their dissertations. He has completed a major research project funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. His lab is funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and Indian Council of Social Science Research, Government of India.