Sathees Nagarajan

By Sathees Nagarajan, Nirubana Varatharajan and Renganathan Vellaichamy Gandhimeyyan

Rice is the most important staple food crop of much of the world’s population. Production and consumption of rice is higher in Asia but adverse environmental conditions critically threaten the rice production. Soil salinity has been a key abiotic constraint affecting the crop production by reducing growth, development and yield of the plant. Rice is highly sensitive to salinity specifically at the early vegetative and late reproductive stages. Therefore, studying the responses of crop at the morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular level is an effective strategy. Understanding the mechanisms behind the salinity such as osmotic stress and osmolytes, ion exclusion, inclusion and compartmentation, antioxidant response and hormonal regulation. Different screening strategies such as phenotypic and genotypic screening for rice under salinity and select the salt tolerant lines. Using the conventional and molecular breeding approaches is a prerequisite for its effective management and to develop salt tolerant cultivars in rice.

Part of the book: Integrative Advances in Rice Research

By Sathees Nagarajan, Yazhni Purushothaman, Monika Selvavinayagam, Pandidurai Govindharaj and Aasif Musthafa

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is a commercially important fiber crop used as the primary raw material in the textile industry and is cultivated throughout the world. Normally cotton fiber is white color and various dyes are used to color the fiber. In textile industry, the process of artificial dying is a major source of pollution to the environment and the cost of dying is also higher. Apart from the white fiber, several cotton species have colored fiber which can be used to reduce the dying process and its ill effects to the environment. The cotton fiber color inheritance pattern is an urgent problem. The physical and chemical properties of colored cotton are determined by its chemical composition. The naturally colored cotton contain some important properties such as, greater hygiene, hypoallergenic properties, lower flammability and higher ultraviolet protection value compared to traditional white cotton. The natural colored cotton loss their market value due to the poor fiber quality. Understanding of the colored cotton pigment composition, biochemical and genetic prospects of colored cotton will be useful for the development of high quality of colored cotton.

Part of the book: Cotton