CRC Press Plant Biotechnology, Volume 2: Transgenics, Stress Management, and Biosafety Issues

This volume is the second of the new two-volume Plant Biotechnology set. This volume covers many recent advances in the development of transgenic plants that have revolutionized our concepts of sustainable food production, cost-effective alternative energy strategies, microbial biofertilizers and biopesticides, and disease diagnostics through plant biotechnology. With the advancements in plant biotechnology, many of the customary approaches are out of date, and an understanding of new updated approaches is needed. This volume presents information related to recent methods of genetic transformation, gene silencing, development of transgenic crops, biosafety issues, microbial biotechnology, oxidative stress, and plant disease diagnostics and management. Key features: Provides an in-depth knowledge of various techniques of genetic transformation of plants, chloroplast, and fungus Describes advances in gene silencing in plants Discusses transgenic plants for various traits and their application in crop improvement Looks at genetically modified foods and biodiesel production Describes biotechnological approaches in horticultural and ornamental plants Explores the biosafety aspect associated with transgenic crops Considers the role of microbes in sustainable agriculture About the Author Sangita Sahni, PhD, is a Junior Scientist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi, and Dr. Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur, Bihar, India. She has published 10 research papers in reputed peer-reviewed national and international journals and has published one authored book and several book chapters. She is an officer in charge of the Agricultural Research Information System (ARIS) Cell, Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi, and a member of different committees at Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, India. She has been an active member of the organizing committees of several national and international seminars. Dr. Sahni has been associated with molecular host pathogen interaction studies in Arabidopsis and B. napus. She is also associated with the pathological aspect of chickpea and MULLaRP (mungbean, urdbean, lentil, lathyrus, rajmash, and pea). She is actively involved in teaching graduate and postgraduate courses on plant pathology and biotechnology. In her research, she has isolated several bacterial isolates from different sources and submitted their sequences to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Bishun Deo Prasad, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and Scientist in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering at Bihar Agricultural University in Sabour, India. He has published 12 research papers in reputed peer-reviewed international journals and has also contributed to one authored book. He has written several book chapters, and has submitted 10 sequences of different isolates to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). He is reviewer of International Journal of Agriculture Sciences and the Journal of Environmental Biology. Dr. Prasad has been associated with biotechnological aspects of rice, Brassica napus, arabidopsis, linseed, lentil, vegetable (bitter guard and pointed guard), and horticultural (mango, litchi and banana) crops. He is also associated with host pathogen interaction studies in rice, B. napus and Arabidopsis as well as mutational breeding aspect in rice for abiotic stress tolerance. He is dynamically involved in teaching graduate and post-graduate courses in biotechnology, plant breeding and genetics, vegetable crops, and horticultural crops. Prasant Kumar, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the C. G. Bhakta Institute of Biotechnology, Department of Fundamental and Applied Science at Uka Tarsadia University, Surat, Gujarat, India. He is the author or co-author of 10 peer-reviewed journal articles and eight conference papers and