This book focuses on the importance and roles of seed microbiomes in sustainable agriculture by exploring the diversity of microbes vectored on and within seeds of both cultivated and non-cultivated plants. It provides essential insights into how seeds can be adapted to enhance microbiome vectoring, how damaged seed microbiomes can be assembled again and how seed microbiomes can be conserved.
Plant seeds carry not only embryos and nutrients to fuel early seedling growth, but also microbes that modulate development, soil nutrient acquisition, and defense against pathogens and other stressors. Many of these microbes (bacteria and fungi) become endophytic, entering into the tissues of plants, and typically exist within plants without inducing negative effects. Although they have been reported in all plants examined to date, the extent to which plants rely on seed vectored microbiomes to enhance seedling competitiveness and survival is largely unappreciated. How microbesfunction to increase the fitness of seedlings is also little understood.
The book is a unique and important resource for researchers and students in microbial ecology and biotechnology. Further, it appeals to applied academic and industrial agriculturists interested in increasing crop health and yield.
Verma, Satish Kumar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Botany
Institute of Science
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi, 221005
India
Satish K Verma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India where he teaches plant pathology and microbiology to graduate and post graduate students. He worked as Raman Fellow at the Department of Plant Biology, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. He is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, where he teaches plant pathology and microbiology to graduate and post graduate students. He received his Ph.D. in Botany (Endophytes) from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India and he also served as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Botany, Visva-Bharti, Santiniketan, India for three years. He has published 16 research papers in scientific journals, including Microbial Ecology, Symbiosis, Annals of Microbiology, Applied Microbiology, Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Microbiology, Plant and Soil, and Current Science. He has also published 3 book chapters. His research interests include the functions of plant microbiomes, endophyte diversity and ecology, and the roles of endophytes in modulation of plant development and protection of hosts from biotic and abiotic stresses.
White, James Francis Jr., Ph.D.
Department of Plant Biology and Pathology
Rutgers University
New Brunswick
New Jersey, 08901
USA
James White is a Professor at the Department of Plant Biology at Rutgers University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the biology of fungi. Dr. White received B.S. and M.S. degrees from Auburn University (Alabama) in Botany and Plant Pathology, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in Botany from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. White has published more than 200 scientific articles and book chapters, and has edited five reference books on the topic of plant-microbe symbioses. Dr. White’s research interests include the evolutionary development of microbial plant symbioses―including the study of both fossil and extant systems. Recently, together with students and collaborators, he has been examining the roles of endophytic microbes in stimulating plant development and protection from biotic and abiotic stresses.
