Hazardous and Trace Materials in Soil and Plants: Sources, Effects, and Management

Hazardous and Trace Materials in Soil and Plants: Sources, Effects and Management explores the latest advancements in reducing, avoiding and eliminating soil contaminants that challenge the health and safety of agricultural plants. With a focus on minimizing the production of those hazardous substances, controlling their distribution and ensuring safe utilization, the book explores each contributing area and provides insights toward improved, sustainable and secure production. This is an excellent reference resource on both current research and future directions from laboratory research to field applications.

The combined impacts of climate change and industrialization have led to increased and diversified threats to the health of the soil in which our food crops are grown, as well as in the plants themselves. This dual-hazard scenario is increasingly recognized as a threat to not just the environment, but to global food security as agricultural soils contaminated with pollutants alter plant metabolism, thus resulting in reduced crop quality and production quantity.

M. Naeem is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India. His research focuses on escalating the production of medicinal plants and their active principles using potent PGRs under normal and stressful environmental conditions. His research also focuses on abiotic stress tolerance in medicinal plants. Dr. Naeem has published over 100 research papers in reputable international journals. He has also authored 12 books and co-authored several book chapters published by international publishers. Based on his research contributions, Dr. Naeem has received multiple awards and recognitions.

Tariq Aftab received his PhD from the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India, where he is currently a Senior Assistant Professor. He is the recipient of a prestigious Leibniz DAAD fellowship from Germany, a Raman Fellowship from the Government of India, and Young Scientist Awards from both the State Government of Uttar Pradesh and the Government of India. He has also served as a Visiting Scientist at IPK Gatersleben, Germany, and in the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University, United States. Dr. Aftab has edited numerous books for major international publishers, including Elsevier, Springer Nature, and CRC Press. He has co-authored several book chapters and published extensively in peer-reviewed, international journals. His research interests include physiological, proteomic, and molecular studies on medicinal and crop plants.

Abid A. Ansari is Associate Professor in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Ansari’s research work is concerned with Plant Ecology and Environment. Dr. Ansari has to his credit a number of research articles of national and international repute, twelve edited books, and number of book chapters on varied aspects of his field of research. He has been honored with NESA Distinguished Award-2020, Scientist of the Year Award-2014 and 2019, and Environmentalist of the Year Award-2011 by the National Environmental Science Academy, India. University of Tabuk also awarded him with Research Excellence-2016 and Distinguished Faculty-2020. He has also participated in various national and international conferences and acquired memberships to various scientific bodies.

Sarvajeet Singh Gill is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Biotechnology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India. His research areas include agricultural plant biotechnology, biotic and abiotic stress biology, plant microbe interaction, and in-silico understanding of plant genomes. He has 12 years of research and 10 years of teaching experience. Dr. Gill has written over 50 book chapters and published over 100 peer reviewed publications in reputed SCI journals and edited around 30 books published by International publishers such Springer-Verlag, Wiley-Blackwell, CRC Press, and Elsevier, among others. He has carried out four R&D projects funded by prominent National funding agencies as Principal Investigator.

Dr. Anca Macovei earned a degree in Biology and a Masters Degree in Plant Genetic Engineering at the ‘Babes-Bolyai’ University in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) followed by a PhD Degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Pavia (Italy). Post-doc fellowships were at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi, India and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Manila, Philippines Currently, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology and Biotechnology (Plant Biotechnology Laboratory), University of Pavia (Italy), main research topics are molecular profiling of seed quality, plant DNA Damage Response (DDR).