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Let’s Protect Our Earth: Environmental Challenges and Implications

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Book cover Microbes and Enzymes in Soil Health and Bioremediation

Part of the book series: Microorganisms for Sustainability ((MICRO,volume 16))

Abstract

Microbial enzymes play a vital role to maintain the soil health and removal of pollutants from the contaminated land. Soil microflora is closely associated to maintain the fertility of the soil. Use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers and other volatile sprays in the agricultural practices threatening the healthy microbial population in the soil. Every single particle of healthy soil is loaded with millions of bacteria which interact with the nutrients available in the surrounding and sustain the nutrient cycle, and this microflora is an essential component of life on earth. The rapid increase in the industrialization and urbanization polluted the water and air heavily which affected the microbial populations and their existence too. Some microbes have been evolved to breakdown the complex toxic pollutants entering the soil into non-harmful components and helping to maintain the soil fertility. Thus, it is urgently needed to identify these microorganisms and enzymes which are involved in restoring the remediation of toxic substances and restoration of microflora required for a normal life.

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Acknowledgments

The financial support from the Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, to undertake this study is thankfully acknowledged. Further, the authors have no conflict of interest either among themselves or with the parent institution.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Ashok Kumar & Tanvi Sharma

  2. Department of Biochemistry, School of Applied Sciences, Reva University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Sikandar I. Mulla

  3. Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China

    Sikandar I. Mulla

  4. Department of Engineering, UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Hesam Kamyab

  5. School of Chemical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Central University of Haryana, Mahendragarh, Haryana, India

    Deepak Pant

  6. University Institute of Biotechnology (UIBT), Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India

    Swati Sharma

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  1. Ashok Kumar
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, Himachal Pradesh, India

    Ashok Kumar

  2. University Institute of Biotechnology (UIBT), Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India

    Swati Sharma

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Kumar, A., Sharma, T., Mulla, S.I., Kamyab, H., Pant, D., Sharma, S. (2019). Let’s Protect Our Earth: Environmental Challenges and Implications. In: Kumar, A., Sharma, S. (eds) Microbes and Enzymes in Soil Health and Bioremediation. Microorganisms for Sustainability, vol 16. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9117-0_1

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