Alvina Gul

Effects of Pesticides on Environment

Pesticides are used to kill the pests and insects which attack on crops and harm them. Different kinds of pesticides have been used for crop protection for centuries. Pesticides benefit the crops; however, they also impose a serious negative impact on the environment. Excessive use of pesticides may lead to the destruction of biodiversity. Many birds, aquatic organisms and animals are under the threat of harmful pesticides for their survival. Pesticides are a concern for sustainability of environment and global stability. This chapter intends to discuss about pesticides, their types, usefulness and the environmental concerns related to them. Pollution as a result to overuse of pesticides and the long term impact of pesticides on the environment are also discussed in the chapter. Moving towards the end, the chapter discusses the methods to eradicate the use of pesticides and finally it looks forward towards the future impacts of the pesticide use the future of the world after eradicating pesticides.

Effects of Gamma Radiation on Crop Production

The increasing world population has raised concerns over food security. In order to feed the world, the projected target is to double food production by 2050. However, this objective has been interrupted by many global challenges, including climatic change and a reduced ozone layer. The Earth is protected by layers of atmosphere. The stratospheric ozone protects living organisms from harmful radiation. Plants use sunlight for photosynthesis and as a consequence face harmful radiation. Depletion of stratospheric ozone has increased radiation entering the surface of the Earth. Radiation is divided into two types: ionizing radiation, where gamma rays are most prominent; and nonionizing radiation, including UV rays. UV rays (high energetic radiation) cause heritable mutations in the genome of plants that exacerbate plant physiology, environmental factors, plant growth, and affect photosystem and soil properties which ultimately affect crop productivity, leading to the incidence and progress of crop diseases. However, plants have evolved methods to reverse the genetic changes by UV radiation by delaying growth and cell division that helps in DNA repair. There have been further studies on plant responses, including in DNA repair enzymes, endogenous photodamaging molecules, and repair machinery towards UV radiations in crop plants. Gamma radiation is high-frequency rays consisting of high-energy protons that penetrate the cell and cause ionization. Ionization of plant cells causes disruption of the normal processes of the cell ultimately affecting crop yield. Gamma rays are dose dependent, where a low dose has fewer side effects in contrast to a high dose that affects plant phenotype, including various cell organelles and biochemical components. However, there are several biochemical parameters to identify the damage caused by this radiation. Nevertheless, the plant defense mechanism is activated under a low dose of gamma rays to cope with the damage. Gamma rays also have various benefits in all applied fields and are used to create crop mutants. This chapter discusses the effects of radiation, predominantly UV and gamma rays in crops and their benefits.

Taming Food Security Through Wastewater Irrigation Practices

Water scarcity, deteriorating water quality and wastewater irrigation is a regional as well as global problem affecting human livelihood and economic prosperity in developing countries. Pakistan’s economy is based on agriculture, which supports livelihood of more than 50 % people relying heavily on available fresh water supplies. Around 90 % of the food and fiber requirements of the country are met from irrigated areas (86.25 % of the total cultivated area) and remaining 10 % from rain-fed areas (13.75 % of the area under cultivation). Water availability is maximum in the Kharif (summer) season and lowest in the Rabi (winter) season. Since Pakistan’s creation water availability has reduced from 5600 m3 to <1000 m3 placing immense pressure on the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors. Reduction in available fresh water supplies has attracted farmers in rural, urban and peri-urban areas to harvest untreated wastewater in agriculture. Wastewater is a complicated mixture of chemical pollutants in which heavy metals are of significant concern. Heavy metals laden wastewaters have adverse impacts on the plants, soils, humans and livestock health. Grave food safety issues arise from the consumption of metal polluted agricultural produce leading to serious clinical conditions. Around 4369 million m3 of wastewater is generated per annum in Pakistan, which is roughly equivalent to standing wheat crop water requirements. Wheat is grown in the Rabi season (November to May), the season, which is already facing serious water deficit. Voluminous amounts of wastewater generated from municipal and industrial sectors can be efficiently utilized in safer crop (wheat) production on treatment. As raw wastewater irrigation can result in serious toxicological conditions in the wheat crop therefore diverse wheat genetic makeup (different wheat varieties/advanced lines) may be used to determine the extent of adverse impacts of heavy metal containing municipal/industrial wastewater on growth/metabolism of different Pakistani wheat cultivars. Identified tolerant wheat varieties then can be recommended for areas where wastewater irrigation is common or fresh water is scarce that will also minimize contaminants (metals) exposure to human and livestock through wheat consumption. Related information on wastewater antagonistic impacts on different wheat varieties is not available from Pakistan. Food safety issues arising from consumption of metal contaminated wheat grains/flour irrigated with municipal/industrial wastewater have only been explored on one of the most commonly growing wheat varieties in various studies. Wheat is the conduit to food security, so harvesting precious wastewater with its potential reuse in wheat irrigation can be of great competitive advantage in achieving food security in rapidly populating country i.e. Pakistan, where growing population needs continuous food supplies with an ever growing water needs. Future research endeavors if focused on gauging impact of wastewater irrigation practices on different wheat cultivars, information generated would be helpful in combating water scarcity, food safety and food security related issues in Pakistan.

Soil Pollution and Remediation

The planet Earth is suffering from an ever-escalating rate of pollution. It was not until the twentieth century that mankind was seriously concerned about pollution. But now pollution has reached to such a significant level that is influencing all ecological compartments. There are many types of pollution. Among these most important are i.e. soil pollution, air pollution, noise pollution, and water pollution. Concerns about soil pollution have increased in the recent decades. Soil pollution has deteriorated large areas of agricultural land around the globe. It is due to soil pollution that soil biodiversity is declining. Human health is also at risk due to high concentration of pollutants found in soil. Vegetation grown on polluted soil is also contaminated to varying degrees. Simple and cost effective solution to soil pollution is bioremediation. It is an efficient technique in which hyper-accumulator plants and native plants along with bacteria and other microorganisms are grown in polluted soils. These organisms absorb and or degrade pollutants and enhance soil quality. As the bioavailability of nutrients increase, soil functioning improves. Bioremediation can be performed using a large number of techniques including biostimulation, bioaugmentation, phytoremediation, mycoremediation etc. This chapter deals with soil pollution, its possible causes and adverse environmental effects. The chapter is concluded with bioremediation as a potential alternative for soil cleanup with possible future recommendations.

Plant-Microbe Interactions: A Molecular Approach

Plants thrive in a complex environment comprising of various biotic and abiotic agents. Like all biological systems, these agents tend to interact with the plant body. Microorganisms form a major portion of the ecosystem and have been found to inoculate or infect members of all the kingdoms. Plants and microbes have developed molecular mechanisms to interact with one another and attain the maximum benefit from the interactions. This mutualistic relationship provides benefit not only to the microbes but also to the plants. Based upon this complex molecular interplay, a number of mechanisms have been studied and are currently being employed for the agricultural, environmental, and health benefits. The principles of biofertilization and bioremediation utilize the plant-microbe interactions for the survival of the two players along with contributing to the food chain and the ecosystem. Similarly, the secondary metabolites obtained from these organisms contribute to human medical and agricultural welfare. These processes are regulated by a variety of biological, physical, chemical, and environmental factors, the study of which can be helpful in exploiting better outcomes from the interaction. The advent of modern techniques has helped in deciphering the role of various molecular players of the plant-microbe interactions. Moreover, they can be employed for regulating the plant-microbe interaction for improved efficiency. The current chapter discusses the molecular mechanisms involved in the plant-microbe interactions exhibited in biofertilization, bioremediation, biocontrol, and induced systemic resistance. Afterwards, the factors affecting the molecular machinery involved in these pathways have been discussed. Toward the end, a brief introduction of the genetic manipulative techniques and their applications in the plant-microbe interactions has been presented.

Physiological, biochemical and agronomic traits associated with drought tolerance in a synthetic-derived wheat diversity panel

Abstract. Synthetic hexaploid wheat and their advanced derivatives (SYN-DERs) are promising sources for introducing novel genetic diversity to develop climate-resilient cultivars. In a series of field and laboratory experiments, we measured biochemical, physiological and agronomic traits in a diversity panel of SYN-DERs evaluated under well-watered (WW) and water-limited (WL) conditions. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among genotypes, treatments and their interaction for all agronomic and physiological traits. Grain yield (GY) was reduced by 62.75% under WL, with a reduction of 38.10% in grains per spike (GS) and 19.42% in 1000-grain weight (TGW). In a Pearson’s coefficient correlation, GY was significantly correlated with GS, number of tillers per plant and TGW in both conditions. Path coefficient analysis showed that TGW and GS made the highest contribution to GY in WW and WL conditions, respectively. The traits examined in this experiment explained 59.6% and 63.01% of the variation in GY under WL and WW conditions, respectively; TGW, canopy temperature at spike and superoxide dismutase were major determinants of GY under WL conditions. The major flowering-time determinant gene Ppd-D1 was fixed in the diversity panel, with presence of the photoperiod-insensitive allele (Ppd-D1a) in 99% accessions. Wild-type alleles at Rht-B1 and Rht-D1, and presence of the rye translocation (1B.1R), favoured GY under WL conditions. Continuous variation for the important traits indicated the potential use of genome-wide association studies to identify favourable alleles for drought adaptation in the SYN-DERs. This study showed sufficient genetic variation in the SYN-DERs diversity panel to improve yields during droughts because of better adaptability than bread wheat.

Technological Platforms to Study Plant Lipidomics

The emergence and rapid growth of “omics” has led to a radical change in the viewpoint of life sciences research. Plant metabolomics is a progressing field of study in plant biology where lipidomics is one of the subunits of metabolomics, covering the entire lipidome of the plant body. Previously, mass spectrometry has been used to study plant lipidome and is presently coupled with various chromatographic techniques to produce more accurate results. Different environmental conditions and stresses contribute to the varying lipids profiling of plants. Numerous environmental stresses trigger lipid-facilitated signaling such as pathogen attack, temperature change, salinity, and drought. N-acylethanolamine, oxylipins, lysophospholipid, phosphatidic acid, inositol phosphate, fatty acid, sphingolipid, diacylglycerol, and N-acylethanolamine have all been suggested to have a signaling role. This chapter reviews various analytical techniques for studying plant lipids. Latest research carried out on lipids variations due to different environmental stresses have also been focused upon in the chapter.

Soil Microflora – An Extensive Research

Soil is the most complicated biomaterial present on earth. It is composed of a variety of substances and provides a habitat to various organisms. Different chemical reactions take place in soil that ensures the sustainability of life. Microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, actinomyces and algae are widely distributed in soil. These natural micro flora have several advantages. They contribute to the growth and development of plants, decomposition of organic materials, nutrient cycling, soil nitrification, sustenance of pedological system and production of bioactive compounds. Soil fungi develop mutualistic associations with plants and increase their surface area for absorption. Rhizosphere of soil, the area in which micro flora is present, is rich not only in diverse micro flora but also plant roots and nutrients. Soil pollution and anthropogenic activities used for higher yield of agricultural crops negatively affect the soil micro flora. Pesticides kill micro flora and reduce soil biodiversity. The focus of this chapter is on the advantages of natural flora of soil and various factors causing their degradation. The chapter also sheds light on the changes in micro floral communities due to changes in environment. Towards the end, the future perspectives in which soil micro flora can be used for further benefit of mankind have also been discussed.

Effect of Industrial Pollution on Crop Productivity

Industrial effluents are a major health concern for all living matter on Earth. The components of these effluents are adversely affecting the environment, causing an imbalance in nature and as a result, in the natural processes going on in the ecosystems. When disturbed, the balance among these ecosystems causes the living organisms in it to adapt to these changes by acting out alternately at various metabolic and biochemical levels. Plants being the foundation of the food chain, and not being able to move, are the major concern at this point in as much as they uptake the harmful substances from the environment and accumulate them in their system, affecting their own health as well the health of all the consumers directly or indirectly depending on them for their food. Several crop plants cultivated as a major food source for humans worldwide need to be paid attention for adverse effects on developmental processes and yield as the agricultural soils are irrigated by water polluted with industrial wastes. As the title indicates, in this chapter we are concerned with the types of substances industrial wastes can contain, their uptake by the plant influencing the uptake, transfer, and movement of other nutrients, and the effect they cause on the growth and biomass of crop plants.

Medicinal Plants Against Cancer

Medicinal plants possess chemical constituents and produce secondary metabolites having countless benefits regarding various ailments. The extract of these plants can act as anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, anti-allergic, anti-cancerous, analgesic, and antidiabetic. Due to these medicinal properties, these plants have been used since centuries for the cure and prevention of different kind of diseases. Derivatives from the medicinal plants and their extracts are effective in small amounts, economical, and safe to use, with negligible side effects. Moreover, medicinal plants are easily accessible and have better compatibility. Review of the literature proves that countless medicinal plants have been exploited for their antitumor as well as anticancer potential. This chapter intends to focus on these plants showing medicinal effects against cancer and tumor. The chapter digs into the detail methodologies through which daily usage plants can be explored for medicinal purposes, the preparation of extracts, and the physiological responses of body towards these extracts.