Plant Growth Promoting Actinobacteria, 1st ed. 2016
A New Avenue for Enhancing the Productivity and Soil Fertility of Grain Legumes

Global yields of legumes have been relatively stagnant for the last five decades, despite the adoption of conventional and molecular breeding approaches. The use of plant growth-promoting (PGP) bacteria for improving agricultural production, soil and plant health has become one of the most attractive strategies for developing sustainable agriculture. Actinomycetes are bacteria that play an important role in PGP and plant protection, produce secondary metabolites of commercial interest, and their use is well documented in wheat, rice, beans, chickpeas and peas. In order to promote legumes, the general assembly of the UN recently declared 2016 the ?International Year of Pulses.? In view of this development, this book illustrates how PGP actinomycetes can improve grain yield and soil fertility, improve control of insect pests and phytopathogens, and enhance host-plant resistance. It also addresses special topics of current interest, e.g. the role of PGP actinomycetes in the biofortification of legume seeds and bioremediation of heavy metals.

 

 

1. Direct Plant Growth-Promoting Ability of Actinobacteria in Grain Legumes.- 2. Indirect Plant Growth-Promotion in Grain Legumes: Role of Actinobacteria.- 3. Enhancing Soil Health and Plant Growth: Promotion by Actinomycetes.- 4. Recent Advancement in the Development of Bio-Pesticides by Actinomycetes for the Control of Insect Pests.- 5. Actinomycetes Bio-Inoculants: A Modern Prospectus for Plant Disease Management.- 6. Managing Pests and Diseases of Grain Legumes with Secondary Metabolites from Actinomycetes.- 7. Role of Secondary Metabolites of Actinomycetes in Crop Protection.- 8. Endophytic Actinobacteria: Nitrogen Fixation, Phytohormone Production and Antibiosis.- 9. Role of Endophytic Actinomycetes in Crop Protection: Plant Growth-Promotion and Biological Control.- 10. Synergy of Actinomycetes Co-inoculation.- 11. Role of ACC Deaminase in Stress Control of Leguminous Plants.- 12. Induction of Systemic Resistance in CropPlants against Plant Pathogens by Plant Growth-Promoting Actinomycetes.- 13. Actinomycetes as Mitigators of Climate Change and Abiotic Stress.- 14. Perspectives of Plant Growth-Promoting Actinomycetes in Heavy Metal Phytoremediation.- 15. Role of Actinomycetes Mediated Nano-System in Agriculture.- 16. Use of Genomic Approaches in Understanding the Role of Actinomycetes as PGP in Grain Legumes.- 17. Exploration of Plant Growth-Promoting Actinomycetes for Biofortification of Mineral Nutrients.- 18. Evaluation of Plant Growth-Promoting Actinomycetes on Vigna.- 19. Plant Growth-Promoting Actinomycetes:  Mass Production, Delivery Systems and Commercialization.

Dr. S Gopalakrishnan is currently working as Senior Scientist in International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Telangana, India.

 

His publications are:

 

1. Gopalakrishnan S, Srinivas V, Alekhya G, Prakash B, Kudapa H and Varshney RK (2015). Evaluation of Streptomyces sp. obtained from herbal vermicompost for broad spectrum of plant growth-promoting activities in chickpea. Organic Agriculture DOI 10.1007/s13165-0099-1.

2. Gopalakrishnan S, Srinivas V, Alekhya G and Prakash B (2015). Effect of plant growth-promoting Streptomyces sp. on growth promotion and grain yield in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). 3Biotech DOI 10.1007/s13205-015-0283-8.

 

 

Identifies and introduces actinomycetes as a potential plant growth promoting agent Presents comprehensive information on combination of plant growth promoting bacteria actinomycetes and grain legumes Provides help to the researchers to explore the potentials of plant growth promoting actinomycetes for increasing the productivity of grain legumes