Microbial Strategies for Crop Improvement

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

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2. The Use of Microorganisms to Facilitate the Growth of Plants in Saline Soils

   • Elisa Gamalero, Graziella Berta, Bernard R. Glick

   Pages 1-22

3. Recent Advances in Plant Growth Promotion by Phosphate-Solubilizing Microbes

   • Almas Zaidi, Mohammad Saghir Khan, Munees Ahemad, Mohd Oves, P. A. Wani

   Pages 23-50

4. Developing Beneficial Microbial Biofilms on Roots of Non legumes: A Novel Biofertilizing Technique

   • Gamini Seneviratne, RMMS Thilakaratne, APDA Jayasekara, KACN Seneviratne, KRE Padmathilake, MSDL De Silva

   Pages 51-62

5. Role of 1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase in Rhizobium–Legume Symbiosis

   • Javed Musarrat, Abdulaziz A Al Khedhairy, Saud Al-Arifi, Mohammad Saghir Khan

   Pages 63-83

6. Strategies for Crop Improvement in Contaminated Soils Using Metal-Tolerant Bioinoculants

   • Anju Rani, Reeta Goel

   Pages 85-104

7. Functional Diversity Among Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria: Current Status

   • Mohammad Saghir Khan, Almas Zaidi, P. A. Wani, Munees Ahemad, Mohammad Oves

   Pages 105-132

8. Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria and Sustainable Agriculture

   • Azeem Khalid, Muhammad Arshad, Baby Shaharoona, Tariq Mahmood

   Pages 133-160

9. Soil Health – A Precondition for Crop Production

   • Niharendu Saha, Biswapati Mandal

   Pages 161-184

10. Recent Advances in Biopesticides

    • Parvez Qamar Rizvi, Rummana A. Choudhury, Arshad Ali

    Pages 185-203

11. Benefits of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi to Sustainable Crop Production

    • M. Vosátka, J. Albrechtová

    Pages 205-225

12. Enhancement of Rhizobia–Legumes Symbioses and Nitrogen Fixation for Crops Productivity Improvement

    • Hamdi Hussein Zahran

    Pages 227-254

13. Monitoring the Development of Nurse Plant Species to Improve the Performances of Reforestation Programs in Mediterranean Areas

    • R. Duponnois, M. Hafidi, J. Thioulouse, A. Galiana, L. Ouahmane, B. Dreyfus et al.

    Pages 255-265

14. Pea Cultivation in Saline Soils: Influence of Nitrogen Nutrition

    • Etelvina Figueira

    Pages 267-286

15. Plant Growth-Promoting Diazotrophs and Productivity of Wheat on the Canadian Prairies

    • Anthony O. Anyia, Daniel J. Archambault, Carols J. Bécquer, Jan J. Slaski

    Pages 287-300

16. Factors Affecting the Variation of Microbial Communities in Different Agro-Ecosystems

    • Munees Ahemad, Almas Zaidi, Md Saghir Khan, Mohammad Oves

    Pages 301-324

17. Strategies for Utilizing Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Phosphate-Solubilizing Microorganisms for Enhanced Phosphate Uptake and Growth of Plants in the Soils of the Tropics

    • Nelson Walter Osorio, Mitiku Habte

    Pages 325-351

18. Back Matter

    Pages 353-358

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With an ever-increasing human population, the demand placed upon the agriculture sector to supply more food is one of the greatest challenges for the agrarian community. In order to meet this challenge, environmentally unfriendly agroch- icals have played a key role in the green revolution and are even today commonly recommended to circumvent nutrient de?ciencies of the soils. The use of ag- chemicals is, though, a major factor for improvement of plant production; it causes a profound deteriorating effect on soil health (soil fertility) and in turn negatively affects the productivity and sustainability of crops. Concern over disturbance to the microbial diversity and consequently soil fertility (as these microbes are involved in biogeochemical processes), as well as economic constraints, have prompted fun- mental and applied research to look for new agro-biotechnologies that can ensure competitive yields by providing suf?ciently not only essential nutrients to the plants but also help to protect the health of soils by mitigating the toxic effects of certain pollutants. In this regard, the role of naturally abundant yet functionally fully unexplored microorganisms such as biofertilizers assume a special signi?cance in the context of supplementing plant nutrients, cost and environmental impact under both conventional practices and derelict environments. Therefore, current devel- ments in sustainability involve a rational exploitation of soil microbial communities and the use of inexpensive, though less bio-available, sources of plant nutrients, which may be made available to plants by microbially-mediated processes.

• agriculture
• agronomy
• biotechnology
• crop improvement
• growth
• microbe
• microbes
• microbiology
• physiology
• plant
• plant growth
• plant physiology
• plant protection
• quality
• soil

• Fac. Agricultural Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

  Mohammad Saghir Khan, Almas Zaidi, Javed Musarrat

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