Chapters authored
Improving Yield and Antioxidant Properties of Strawberries by Utilizing Microbes and Natural Products
Consumption of strawberry has gone up worldwide due to its proven health benefits. Strawberry growers are using synthetic fertilizers and pest management products to maximize yield. This situation posed a risk by affecting sustainability of strawberry production and tainting reputation of a healthy fruit by placing it in the list of dirty dozen due to pesticide residues on fruit. Alternative approaches for increasing yield and pest management of strawberry to minimize environmental and health hazards are possible. Recent studies on alternative natural products (e.g., chitosan) and beneficial microbes (e.g., Bacillus, Paraburkholderia, etc.) indicated that growth, yield, and fruit quality enhancement are supported by these products and may help in sustainable strawberry production. This chapter reviews and updates our knowledge on the health benefit of strawberry and research findings on the use of natural products and probiotic bacteria for yield and quality improvement in strawberry.
Part of the book: Strawberry
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Rice-Wheat Systems of South Asia Is Influenced by Terminal Heat Stress at Late Sown Condition: A Case in Bangladesh
Wheat plays an important role in attaining food and nutritional security in Bangladesh after rice. The demand of wheat has been increasing every year at the rate of 13% due to rapid changes in dietary habits, socio-economic upliftment, enhancement of per capita income, etc. Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI) has already released 34 high yielding, disease-resistant, and abiotic stress-tolerant wheat varieties, and improved management practices to the farmers. Although all the released varieties have climatic yield potential as high as 6.0 t ha−1 with the attainable average yield is 4.0–4.5 t ha−1, the national average yield in farmers’ field is only 3.49 t ha−1; it is specified that there is a huge yield gap existing among potential, attainable and actual yields. One of the most important reasons for this yield gap of wheat is the terminal high temperature stress (HS) in late sowing wheat. Generally, farmers in Bangladesh are sowing wheat lately due to delay in sowing monsoon rice and subsequent late harvest of the rice; as a result, late sown wheat faces terminal HS at reproductive stage. The chapter highlighted the consequences of terminal HS on wheat and potential approaches to mitigate the stress in Bangladesh.
Part of the book: Plant Stress Physiology
Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Rice under Abiotic Stress: Plant Breeding Approach
Nitrogenous fertilizer has remarkably improved rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield across the world since its discovery by Haber-Bosch process. Due to climate change, future rice production will likely experience a wide range of environmental plasticity. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is an important trait to confer adaptability across various abiotic stresses such as flooding, drought and salinity. The problem with the increased N application often leads to a reduction in NUE. New solutions are needed to simultaneously increase yield and maximize the NUE of rice. Despite the differences among flooding, salinity and drought, these three abiotic stresses lead to similar responses in rice plants. To develop abiotic stress tolerant rice varieties, speed breeding seems a plausible novel approach. Approximately 22 single quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and 58 pairs of epistatic QTLs are known to be closely associated with NUE in rice. The QTLs/genes for submergence (SUB1A) tolerance, anaerobic germination (AG, TPP7) potential and deepwater flooding tolerance (SK1, SK2) are identified. Furthermore, phytochrome-interacting factor-like14 (OsPIL14), or loss of function of the slender rice1 (SLR1) genes enhance salinity tolerance in rice seedlings. This review updates our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of abiotic stress tolerance and discusses possible approaches for developing N-efficient rice variety.
Part of the book: Recent Advances in Rice Research