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Title : Unravelling the mechanisms of salt stress tolerance in mycorrhizal plants
Name : Bhoopander Giri
University : Swami Shraddhanand College (University of Delhi)
Country : India
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Due to extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, low rainfall, increased evaporation, weathering and suboptimal irrigation practices, the accumulation of soluble salts in agricultural fields is increasing gradually, making the soil saline. Increasing soil salinity drastically influences growth and productivity of plants. Mycorrhizal fungi (MF) form symbiotic relationships and play a crucial role in enhancing plant growth by promoting nutrient uptake under saline conditions. They help their partner plants in mitigating injurious effects of soluble salts, prevalent in a saline habitat. MF alter morphological, physiological, biochemical attributes of plants and also help in upholding cell ultra structures remain intact under saline conditions. In our studies, the mycorrhiza-inoculated plants exhibited increased photosynthetic and transpiration rates, internal CO2 and stomatal conductance. They increased the accumulation of glycine betaine, total sugars, trehalose, proline, putrescine, spermidine, carotenoids, proteins and α-tocopherols and decreased lipid peroxidation and lipoxygenase activity, thus validating the increased stress tolerance in mycorrhizal plants. Besides, MF also helped the host plant to overcome salinity-induced nutrient deficiency along with reduced Na+ accumulation, which is an indicative of enhanced nutrient status, and reduced damage to cell structures, particularly plasma membrane and chloroplasts. The ultrastructural analysis of chloroplast revealed preserved thylakoids and grana in MF-inoculated plants in contrast to uninoculated plants under saline conditions. The cell membrane of MF-inoculated plants displayed reduced detachment from the cell wall, representing improved membrane integrity. Our results emphasize the significant roles of MF in mitigating salinity stress and the practical application of MF to improve plant’s tolerance to salt stress and also to promote sustainable agriculture in salt affected areas.
Biography
Prof. Bhoopander Giri has pursued Ph.D in the area of Mycorrhizal Research from the University of Delhi, Delhi, India, and is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Botany, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi, Delhi, India. Prof. Giri has worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and also as a Raman Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, USA. He has also served as an Associate Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi. He is a recipient of CSIR Research Associateship and DST Young Scientist Fellowship. Prof. Giri has supervised several Ph.D. students and has published more than 60 papers in the national and international peer-reviewed journals, and books with more than 7000 citations. He has edited three books, Root Biology (2018), Biofertilizers for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment (2019), Microorganisms in Saline Environments: Strategies and Functions (2019), Soil Health (2020), Plant Stress Biology: Strategies and Trends (2021), Pedosphere: Structure and Functions which are published by Springer Nature, Germany. Prof. Giri is a life-member of many prestigious academic societies. He has served as a General Secretary for International Symbiosis Society (ISS), USA. Prof. Giri is serving as reviewers for several international and national journals. He has served as a Member of the Jury constituted by the Director, Consortium for Educational Communication (An Inter University Centre of University Grant Commission) for the award under Best Research category and is a member of preview subject expert committee. He has presented research papers in several international conferences (United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada and USA) and act as a key note speaker and organizing secretary. He chaired a Session in the 5th Annual Congress on Plant & Soil Science held (2019) London, UK. Instead, he has received best paper presentation award during 98th Indian Science Congress, SRM University, Chennai, India and in the National Conference on Plant Science Research: looking beyond 21st Century, organized by the Society of Plant Science Research & Department of Botany, University of Delhi, India.
Title : Mangrove-Associated Halotolerant Bacteria Augments Salinity Stress Tolerance in Solanum lycopersicum
Name : Mayank Gururani
University : College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE
Country : UAE
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Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) can mitigate the detrimental impacts of salt stress on plants. The current research reports the isolation of PGPRs from high-saline mangrove environments. These isolates exhibited ACC deaminase action to alleviate the stress ethylene, along with additional plant growth-accelerating characteristics such as phosphate dissolution and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) biosynthesis. The molecular profiling of PGPRs revealed that the isolates Bacillus subtilis (isolate B1) and Bacillus siamensis (isolate B3) could alleviate salt stress-induced injury and create tolerance in the tomato plants. Inoculation of isolates B1 and B3 protected the tomato plants in the greenhouse, from the detrimental effects of NaCl and significantly boosted the shoot length, shoot dry weight (DW), shoot fresh weight (FW), root DW, root FW, and flowers count per tomato plant cultivated in saline conditions.
Further, chlorophyll-a fluorescence studies displayed that the plants inoculated with isolates B1 and B3 demonstrated higher efficiency of photosystem II (PSII) than control plants, in NaCl-triggered salinity stress conditions.
Additionally, leaf spectral reflectance showed improved stomatal conductance-associated spectral signatures in tomato plants inoculated with B1 and B3 isolates. Overall, the study findings suggested that isolates B1 and B3 could be utilized to develop biofertilizers to improve the production of tomato grown under saline conditions.
Biography
Dr. Mayank Gururani, is a plant biologist with specialization in Molecular Physiology, currently working as an Associate Professor at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Al Ain, UAE. He obtained his PhD in 2013 in Molecular Biotechnology from Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea. He later worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Jeju National University, Jeju, Korea and Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, Korea before moving to the UAE. His research areas broadly include abiotic stress physiology and its influence on photosynthetic machinery.
Title : Tropical Tidal Wetland Vegetation Mosaics: Relationships with Micro-Topography and Tidal Hydroperiod
Name : Cecile Vulliet
University : College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University
Country : Australia
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Saltmarshes are critical ecosystems that play key roles in biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration, providing multiple ecological and economic values essential for sustainable development. Yet, saltmarshes are threatened by human activities and sea-level rise (SLR). Long-term restoration and management strategies are necessary but often hindered by an insufficient understanding of the past, present, and future processes that influence tidal wetland functionality and change. Since understanding vegetation distribution in relation to elevation and tidal hydroperiod generally forms the basis of tidal wetland restoration strategies, this research investigated the relationships between micro-topography, tidal hydroperiod, and the distribution of saltmarshes, mangroves, and unvegetated flats in a tropical estuary situated within a Great Barrier Reef Catchment in North Queensland, Australia. We used a combination of high-resolution unattended-aerial-vehicle (UAV)- derived digital elevation model (DEM) and land cover coupled with 2D hydrodynamic modelling to investigate these aspects. We found overlapping distribution across elevation, highlighting that zonation was more complex than strict zonation patterns generally recognised in restoration and legislation. In addition, although each type of tidal wetland cover had distinct mean hydroperiods, and elevation and hydroperiods were strongly correlated, elevation explained only 15% of the variability in tidal wetland cover distribution. This finding implies that additional factors likely play a role in shaping tidal wetland cover zonation patterns in tropical tidal wetlands. These results hold significance as they underscore the need to exercise caution when applying oversimplistic explanations for the causality of tidal wetlands. The suitability of applying simplistic rules in management and restoration is likely to be context-dependent, as demonstrated in our study site. Contextual variabiltiy in environmental and biological factors may lead to different distribution patterns of tidal wetland components, and hence varying restoration and management success. This research also explored the potential effects of sea-level rise (SLR) on the tidal hydroperiods and connectivity of the study site. Our results showed that the inundation experienced by each tidal wetland cover may increase importantly if vegetation does not keep up with SLR. This underlines the importance of acquiring detailed spatio-temporally resolved data to enable the development of robust long-term and adaptive saltmarsh management strategies. This research highlights the uncertainties and complexities in understanding the processes influencing tropical tidal wetland functionality. Recognising these complexities is paramount for effectively managing and restoring tidal wetland ecosystems and, hence, maintaining their critical ecological and economic values.
Biography
I am a PhD candidate at James Cook University, Australia, and I have recently submitted my PhD on the eco-hydrological aspects of saltmarshes connectivity in tropical seascapes under the supervision of Assoc. Prof Nathan Waltham, Dr Jack Koci, and Dist. Prof Marcus Sheaves. Before doing a PhD, I completed my Bachelor of Marine Biology at James Cook University and in Hawaii at the University of Hilo. I then conducted my honours at James Cook University on the ecological connectivity of dry tropical freshwater streams under the supervision of Assoc. Prof Nathan Waltham and Dist. Prof Marcus Sheaves. During my studies, I have volunteered in Asia and Oceania while giving guest lectures and tutoring Bachelor and Master students. I am also supervising masters and honours theses. Overall, I have broad interests in tidal and freshwater aquatic ecosystem functioning, ecology and hydrology, as well as terrestrial and coastal ecosystem management, conservation, and restoration. I believe that multi-disciplinary collaboration and establishing strong links with communities and stakeholders are critical for successful long-term ecosystem management and restoration.
Title : Exploring of heat shock-regulated genes in high temperature resistant radish (Raphanus sativus)
Name : Man-Ho Oh
University : Chungnam National University
Country : Korea
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Due to the global warming, the growth and production of crops including radish is unstable, and the damage to the farmhouse is increasing. After heat shock treatment in 60 diverse radish varieties, the difference in heat shock resistance is investigated, and excellent high temperature resistant varieties and 3 high temperature sensitive varieties are selected. To identify specific genes involved in heat stress as upstream signaling components in high temperature resistant variety, gene expression of 76 receptor-like
cytoplasmic kinases (RLCKs) under high temperature (37°C, 2 hr) were analyzed and 3 RLCKs (Rs275520, Rs355490, Rs032070) were significantly increased at 37° C compared to normal temperature (23°C) in contrast of a Rs497590 gene expression slightly
decreased. Also, analyzed downstream components, which could be involved in heat stress resistance with RT-PCR. Rs032070 interacting proteins identified 8 proteins with Yeast Two Hybrid (Y2H) system and expression of 8 genes interacts with Rs032070 investigated under ) in heat-shock condition and all of gene expression is induced by heat-shock treatment. Interestingly, protein phosphatase 7 (PP7, Rs499360) gene expression increased in heat-tolerant varieties at 37°C treatment although difference of PP7 expression was not observed in heat stress-sensitive varieties. Using PP7 as bait, identified 4 different interacting proteins with Y2H and 2 genes, SCE1 and chlorophyll a-b binding protein 4 transcripts level increased significantly at 37°C. These results are helpful in understanding the mechanism in terms of climate warming including heat stress in radish.
Title : Sustainable Plant-Based Dietary Supply Chain Design to Reduce Malnutrition in Deprived Areas
Name : Shima Yekkehbash Heidari
University : Cardiff University
Country : UK
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Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has reported that malnutrition elimination and people’s eating habits have the immense potential to alter the world food demand in 2050. Hence, strategists should incorporate the mentioned elements to properly manage the food industry. This paper aims to present a comprehensive model for integrating strategic and tactical decisions to manage a forward environmentally-friendly perishable food supply chain (FSC). In this paper, a new mathematical model is presented in that incorporates location-allocation decisions with sourcing, transportation, and scheduling decisions. A four echelon supply chain to fulfil the nutrient demand of customers and their quality requirements of both fresh and processed products are addressed in this paper. The applicability of plant-based dietary patterns to reduce malnutrition through sustainable supply chain management is illustrated. Initially, a new bi-objective mixed-integer non-linear programming model is provided and intended to minimize both the total costs and the cumulative environmental impacts, including soil degradation, water use, CO2 emissions, and fuel consumption. The nutritional requirements of each customer zone, meat consumption avoidance, and regional development are included as the social aspect of sustainability. Next, a Ɛ-constraint approach is applied to obtain Pareto points. In the end, a real numerical example considering a reduced plant-based diet is analysed for further analysis and managerial insights.
Our proposed model can be employed by the government and non-profit organizations when the salient purpose is to ameliorate the irreparable effects of malnutrition. The model can provide the food sector managers with valuable insights into designing a greener, more responsive, and more profitable supply chain. The resultant managerial insights after solving the proposed model for a real case study are 1) The importance of agricultural production to building a sustainable food system cannot be overemphasized; 2) For managers to alleviate malnutrition while minimizing costs and environmental burdens, the product’s nutrient profile is of a higher priority regardless of its deteriorating speed; 3) Improving the nutritional value of processed products seems to be more effective than establishment and manufacturing costs to ensure the selection of processed products in diets; and 4) Dietary diversity can be achieved by incurring a 14% increase in total costs.
Biography
I’m Shima Yekkehbash Heidari, born in 1996, Shiraz, Iran. I am currently a PhD student at Cardiff University, UK. I have a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering (Shiraz University of Technology), a master’s degree in Logistics and Supply Chain (University of Tehran) and a second master’s degree in social science research methods in business and management from Cardiff university. My research mostly centers around sustainable operations management considering perishability or emerging technologies to address global crises.