From the Back Cover
Nanoscience and nanotechnology imply the study of nanoparticles with at least one dimension below 100 nm with potential for application in a variety of sectors, including in agriculture, therapeutics, diagnostics, engineering, food industry and safety, environmental remediation, and energy infrastructure. This book presents recent developments involving the role of nanoparticles on stress tolerance. In particular, nanoparticles have the potential to provide effective solutions to the multiple agriculture-related problems. Nanoparticles present enhanced reactivity and thus better effectiveness when compared to their bulkier counterparts due to their higher surface-to-volume ratio. In addition, nanoparticles offer the potential to leverage unique surface chemistry as compared to traditional approaches, such that they can be functionalized or grafted with functional groups that can target specific molecules of interest for efficient remediation. Recent findings on the increased use of nanoparticles in agriculture by densely populated countries such as China and India, indicate that this technology may impart a substantial impact on tolerance against stresses, malnutrition, and crop loss.
Stresses represent the main constraint for agriculture, affecting plant growth and productivity worldwide. Yield losses in agriculture will be potentiated in the future by global warming, increasing contamination, and reduced availability of fertile land. The challenge of the present and future agriculture is to increase the food supply for a continuously growing human population under environmental conditions that are deteriorating in many areas of the world. This book addresses these issues and many more. Chapters incorporate both theoretical and practical aspects of nanoparticle impacts on plant tolerance against stresses and may serve as baseline information for future research through which significant development is possible. This book will be useful to researchers, instructors and students both in universities and research institutes, especially in relation to biological and agricultural sciences.
Dr. Mohammad Faizan is Postdoctoral Scientist/Assistant Teacher, in the Department of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. In 2014, he obtained his M.Sc. degree in Botany at Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, Kanpur, India, and his Ph.D. in 2018 at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. The findings of his work have revealed that exogenous application of brassinosteroids and nanoparticles improved the yield and quality of plants under natural as well as stressful conditions. He has written one book published by Springer addressing nanotechnology for plant growth and development and has authored or co-authored six book chapters. Findings of his research works have been published in the Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Nitric Oxide, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, Current Protein & Peptide Science, Photosynthetica, South African Journal of Botany, IET Nanotechnology, Russian Journalof Plant Physiology, Biocell and many more with more than 540 google scholar citation and 10 h-index. He is also member of the editorial board of the Journal of Plant Sciences and is also member of various societies.
Dr. Shamsul Hayat is Professor, in the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. He received his Ph.D. degree in Botany from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Before joining the Department as faculty, he has worked as Research Associate and Young Scientist in the same Department. He has also worked as Associate Professor in King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as a BOYSCAST Fellow at National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan and as visiting scientist through INSA-Bilateral exchange programme at Faculty of Biology and Chemistry, Institute of Biology, Department of Plant Biochemistry and Toxicology, University of Bialystok, Poland. The major area of research includes plant hormone, nanoscience and abiotic stress in plants. It has been reported from his group that phytohormone such as brassinosteroids and salicylic acid plays an important role in increasing the photosynthetic efficiency of the plant and regulate the antioxidant system even under abiotic stress. He is also studying the protein profiling in hormone-treated plants under abiotic stress. Dr. Hayat has been awarded Prof. Hira Lal Chakravorty Award by Indian Science Congress Association, Kolkata, India, Associate of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi, India, BOYSCAST fellow by Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi and young scientist by Association of the Advancement of Science, Aligarh, India. Dr. P.S. Khankhoje gold medal has also been awarded to him by Dr. Punjab Rao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. He has been the Principal Investigator of the various projects sanctioned by different agencies and guided seven students for the award of Ph.D. degree andtwo students for the award of M.Phil degree besides a number of M.Sc. students. Dr. Hayat has published more than one hundred sixty research papers in leading journal of the world such as Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Environmental & Experimental Botany, Plant Physiology & Biochemistry, Environmental Pollution, Nitric Oxide, Protoplasma, Plant Signalling & Behaviour, Photosynthetica, Acta Physiologiae Plantarum with high impact factor and also published twelve books by Kluwer Academic, Springer, Wiley-VCH, Science Publisher and Narosa Publishing House. Besides this twenty five book chapters has also been published. Dr. Hayat has presented his work at several national and international conferences in Japan, Brazil, Spain, China, Poland and Saudia Arabia. He is a regular reviewer and on the panel of editorial boards of National and International journals, Dr. Hayat is also the member of important National and International scientific societies. Recently he has been appointed as Indian representative in Asia Association of Plant Scientist.
Dr. Fangyuan Yu is Professor, in the Department of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in Botany from Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. Dr. Yu was trained in Department of Forest Science, The University of British Columbia for one year. His major areas of research are tree seed physiology, nursery practices, seedling eco-physiology, mechanism of seed oil, flower color and fragrance development. He has been the Principal Investigator of the various projects sanctioned by different agencies of China and guided number of students for the award of Ph.D. degree. Findings of his research works have been published in the International journal of high impact factor such as
BMC Plant Biology, Tree, International Journal of Agriculture & Biology, Metabolites, Forests, Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, New Forests, and Journal of Forestry Research and also published three books.
