Sustainable Agriculture in the Era of Climate Change

Under ongoing climate changes, natural and cultivated habitats of major crops are being continuously disturbed. Such conditions impose and exacerbate abiotic and biotic stressors. Drought, salinity, flood, cold, heat, heavy metals, metalloids, oxidants, irradiation, etc. are important abiotic stressors, while diseases and infections caused by plant pathogens, such as fungal agents, bacteria and viruses, are major biotic stresses. In many instances, stresses have become the major limiting factor for agricultural productivity and exert detrimental role on growth and yield of the crops. To help feed an ever increasing world population and to ensure global food security, concerted efforts from scientists and researchers have identified strategies to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate-induced stresses. This book, summarizing their findings, is aimed at crop improvement beyond such kind of barriers, by agronomic practices (genetics, breeding, phenotyping, etc.) and biotechnological applications, including molecular markers, QTL mapping, genetic engineering, transgenesis, tissue culture, various 'omics' technologies and gene editing. It will cover a wide range of topics under environmental challenges, agronomy and agriculture processes, and biotechnological approaches. Additionally, fundamental mechanisms and applied information on stress responses and tolerance will be discussed. This book highlights problems and offers proper solutions for crop stress management with recent information and up-to-date citations. We believe this book is suitable for scientists, researchers and students working in the fields of agriculture, plant science, environmental biology and biotechnology. 

Dr. Rajib Roychowdhury is presently working as Postdoctoral Visiting Scientist at the Institute of Plant Sciences of Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) – Volcani Center, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Israel. His current research is focusing on Genetics and Breeding of Berry fruits (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry) to improve yield and quality under Mediterranean climate. In the postdoctoral tenure, Dr. Roychowdhury extensively worked on Winter Cereal Genetics and Breeding, especially to improve wheat in Israeli semiarid environments (a part of fertile crescent of wheat domestication) using diverse genetic stocks like modern cultivars, landraces, durum, spelt, dicoccum, emmer, etc. Dr. Roychowdhury received his Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology from Visva-Bharati Central University (India) for research on previouslyunreported rice landraces for their agromorphology, grain quality, and abiotic stress tolerance. Later, he also did short-term postdoctoral research on "Metalloid stress tolerance in rice" under a CSIR project (Government of India) from Assam Central University, Silchar, India. During master’s and post-master’s tenure, he worked a lot on mutation breeding in Carnation, which was a pioneering work on this floricultural crop in South-East Asia. Dr. Roychowdhury was elected as a Fellow Member of the Linnaean Society of London, UK. His biography was published in the Pearl Edition of Marquis Who’sWho of the World, USA. In 2019, he got the travel award by International Wheat Initiative (Germany) for presenting his research in the 1st International Wheat Congress (Saskatoon, Canada) and to participate in the pre-conference workshop on 'Un-manned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based phenotyping for wheat improvement'. Dr. Roychowdhury has written several impacted research papers, review articles, invited chapters, and books in both international and nationally reputed journals and publishers. Till date, his publications got a total of 1400 citations as per GoogleScholar with the h-Index 15. Dr. Roychowdhury serves as Editorial Board member in 'South African Journal of Botany' (Elsevier), and reviewed manuscripts for 'Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution' (Springer), 'Phytoparasitica' (Springer), 'Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety' (Elsevier), and 'Journal of Crop Improvement' (Taylor & Francis).

Dr. Shuvasish Choudhury is an Assistant Professor at Assam University, Silchar, India since 2009. He obtained his M.Sc., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Assam University, Silchar and Post Doctorate from Oklahoma State University, USA. He has published more than 40 research and review articles including book chapters in journals and volumes of national andinternational repute. He has been awarded Young Botanist Award by Indian Botanical Society in 2010 and thereafter with FAST TRACK Young Scientist Award and Overseas Associateship by SERB and Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India respectivley. Dr. Choudhury has undertaken several research projects in the multi-disciplinary areas of plant sciences, funded by agencies of Government of Indian such as University Grants Commission (UGC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He is also enlisted reviewer for several journals published by Springer, Elsevier, American Chemical Society, etc. His research interest involves understanding the molecular physiological and metabolomic basis of abiotic stress perception and tolerance in crops especially metalloid and drought stress. Besides this, his research also involves identification of bioactive markers compounds in medicinal plants used by local and indigenous people of Northeast India. Dr. Choudhury teaches biochemistry, plant systems biology and analytical instrumentation.

Dr. Mirza Hasanuzzaman is Professor of Agronomy at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He received his Ph.D. in ‘Plant Stress Physiology and Antioxidant Metabolism’ from the United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Ehime University, Japan, as a recipient of a scholarship from the Japanese government (MONBUKAGAKUSHO). Later, he completed his postdoctoral research at the Center of Molecular Biosciences, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan, as a recipient of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) postdoctoral fellowship. Subsequently, he received the Australian Government’s Endeavour Research Fellowship for postdoctoral research as an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Australia. Mirza Hasanuzzaman has supervised 20 M.S. students His current work is focused on the physiological and molecular mechanisms of environmental stress tolerance. Prof. Hasanuzzaman has published over 120 research publications in peer-reviewed journals. He has edited 12 books and written 45 book chapters on important aspects of plant physiology, plant stress responses, and environmental problems in relation to agricultural plants. According to Scopus®, Prof. Hasanuzzaman’s publications have received roughly 4400 citations with an h-index of 33. He is an editor and reviewer for more than 50 peer-reviewed international journals and was a recipient of the ‘Publons Peer Review Award 2017, 2018 and 2019’. He has been honored by different authorities for his outstanding performance in different fields like research and education, and has received the World Academy of Science Young Scientist Award (2014). He has attended and presented 25 papers at international conferences in many different countries (USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Japan, Austria, Sweden, Russia, Indonesia, etc.). Prof. Hasanuzzaman is an active member of 40 professional societies and is currently the Acting Research and Publication Secretary of the Bangladesh JSPS Alumni Association. He is also a fellow of The Linnean Society of London.

Dr. Sangeeta Srivastava is presently working as Principal Scientist at ICAR-Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research (IISR), Lucknow, India. She earned her M.Sc. (Botany) with 1^st position from Lucknow University in 1985, and Ph.D. from CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow in 1989 as CSIR-NET JRF/SRF and secured the first rank in ARS examination for Agricultural Scientist in India. Since Ph.D. and post-doctoral work in Germany and USA, Dr. Srivastava has noteworthy contributions to realize genetic enhancement and diversityof sugarcane and sugar beet through classical and molecular breeding interventions. Through her dedicated efforts, a first-time Indian resource of 26,451 sugarcane ESTs and molecular diagnostic assays to detect incipient infection of pathogens of sugarcane diseases have been developed. She has >175 publications from international and national reputed publishers/journals including book compilation, chapters, popular articles, etc. Dr. Sangeeta is a recipient of many prestigious national awards including ICAR-Young Scientist award, DBT-CREST Award, ISCA Platinum Jubilee award,  Prof YS Murty Gold Medal, Woman Botanist Gold Medal,  SAB Award of excellence, Best Woman Scientist award, and fellowships of NABS, UPAAS, IBS, ISGPB, SAB and SSRP. She has guided Ph.D. and M.Sc. theses, and dissertations of many UG/PG students. She is the Chief Editor of Indian Journal of Sugarcane Technology and has served as editor of Journal of Environmental Biology, SugarTech (Springer), Plant Cell Biotechnology and Molecular Biology and Indian Journal of Fundamental & Applied Life Sciences, and reviewer of several national/international journals.