Covers the different aspects of environmental problems and their remedies with upto date developments in the field of bioremediation of industrial/environmental pollutants. This book serves as an invaluable source of knowledge for a wide range of students, scientists and researchers in Microbiology, Biotechnology, Environmental Sciences with the fundamental and advance knowledge about the environmental pollution, challenges and bioremediation of toxic pollutants.

The science of nanotechnology, the manipulation, design and engineering of devices at the atomic and molecular scale, is starting to be applied to many disciplines including aspects of agriculture and crop science. This book opens with a brief history of nanotechnology in agriculture. Applications are then examined in detail, including nanopesticides, nanosensors, nanofertilizers, and nanoherbicides. Topics covered include; the biosynthesis of nanoparticles (through microbes, plants and other biotic agents); the ecological consequences of their delivery into the environment (examining effects and toxicity on soil, soil biota, and plants); safety issues; an overview of the global market for nanotechnology products, and the regulation of nanotechnology in agriculture. The book concludes with speculations on what the future holds for the technology. The book has been written by an international group of researchers and experts from over 12 countries with experience across a wide range of issues relating to the industry. This book will be of use to a wide range of researchers and professional scientists in the agricultural sector, academia and industry, including microbiologists, chemical engineers, geneticists, plant scientists and biochemists.

Since ancient times microorganisms have proven themselves a protective warrior to fight against many problems in the favor of humankind and therefore their potential applications are expected to increase significantly in various area. Microorganisms are known to detoxify or magnify the toxicity of allelochemicals after their entry into soil, and thus influence allelopathic activities. There could be more than one mechanisms of action of such microbes affecting the fate of allelochemicals in soil. Therefore future allelopathy research should be designed to understand the interaction of allelochemicals with soil microbes. However, their significance in influencing allelopathic activity is largely not investigated in bioassays for allelopathy. In this book, therefore, an attempt has been made to focus mainly on this aspect of allelopathy where phytoxicity of invasive weed can be minimized by using beneficial rhizobacteria without having any harmful effects on non-target plants, soil and ecosystem. An approach has been made to cover all possible aspects of soil microbial ecology in allelopathic interactions which can provide a baseline for futuristic studies.