Chapters authored
Effects of Pesticides, Temperature, Light, and Chemical Constituents of Soil on Nitrogen Fixation
Nitrogen is a vital component of atmosphere and plays important roles in the biochemistry of all life forms on the earth. Various mechanisms of biological nitrogen fixation and recycling in the environment have been evolved in all known ecosystems. For example, symbiotic nitrogen fixation is the major N2-fixing mechanism in the agroecosystems. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation is dependent on the biotic factors, such as host plant genotypes and the microbial strains. However, the interaction of these biotic factors is influenced by abiotic factors, such as climate and environmental conditions. The effects of various environmental variables, such as pesticides, temperature, and light as well as acidity, alkalinity, salinity, phosphorus, and water content status of the soils on the nitrogen fixation have been discussed briefly in this chapter.
Part of the book: Nitrogen Fixation
Synthesis, Characterization of Dichlorofluorescein Silver Nanoparticles (DCF-SNPs) and Their Effect on Seed Germination of Vigna radiata
The main objective of this study was to investigate whether dichlorofluorescein (DCF) is adequate for the formulation of stable dichlorofluorescein-induced silver nanoparticles under the boiling method to analyze their effects on the seed germination of Mung seeds (Vigna radiata). Preliminary dichlorofluoresceine nanoparticles (DCF-SNPs) synthesis evidence by noticing the solution color transformed from a light green color to a dark brown color. The 2.5 ml of dichlorofluoresceine (DCF) solution was found sufficient for the formulation of dichlorofluoresceine induced silver nanoparticles at boiling conditions. Purified dichlorofluoresceine nanoparticles (DCF-SNPs) measure an average diameter of 293 nm where the majority of nanoparticles were around 159 nm in size with the surface load of-9.35 mV zeta potential value. The impact of dichlorofluorescein silver nanoparticles (DCF-SNPs) on the germination percentage of V. radiata has shown that, the 25% concentration of DCF-SNPs is excellent for the growth of Mung seeds (V. radiata). Overall, the dichlorofluorescein silver nanoparticles may be constructive for improving the percentage of seed germination at 25% of its concentration and may also be useful for fluorescent measurement using the confocal microscopy technique. Hence, dichlorofluorescein silver nanoparticles (DCF-SNPs) are proposed as an efficient detection system for nanoparticles in agrochemicals for plants.
Part of the book: Silver Micro-Nanoparticles