Bedaprana Roy

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Senior Researcher at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata

Metallothioneins are a class of proteins produced by both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, having low molecular weight and abundant cysteine residues. These proteins play a humongous role in binding, sequestration, and even buffering of the intracellular metal ions. Though they are a wide class of proteins, much of them are yet to be explored. Their met...

The sub-mountainous tea gardens of the Dooars region of West Bengal, which con- tribute approximately 25% of the national tea yield, are constantly fighting with diminishing soil fertility. Inorganic alternatives like chemical fertilizers can provide easier yet short-term solutions, as their prolonged and indiscriminate usage leaches the soil, devo...

With the global population explosion, the need for increasing crop productivity is reaching its peak. The significance of organic means of cultivation including biofertilizers and biopesticides is undeniable in this context. Over the last few decades, the use of rhizobacteria to induce crop productivity has gained particular interest of researchers...

Extremophiles are well-known to flourish in hostile extreme habitats. For instance, extremes of temperatures, acidic or alkaline environments, high pressure, UV irradiation, salinity and even presence of heavy metal concentrations. While extremophiles can survive in an individual extreme, polyextremophiles can survive in combinations of such extrem...

The Indian cuisine is enriched with different flavouring agents and seasonings which contain various active principles. Thus, long term consumption of these condiments might have both positive and negative impacts. In this review, we have enlisted 5 types of leaf condiments (Ocimum tenuiflorum, Petroselinum crispum, Laurus nobilis, Coriandrum sativ...

This study explores harnessing the potential of halotolerant plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPR) from Ghoramara Island, addressing challenges of salinity and cyclone-induced soil runoff in the ecologically vulnerable region. Bacillus altitudinis (OS-1) and Priestia megaterium (TDS-3) were chosen as initial bio-fertilizer consortia to enhance okr...

Globally farmers use around 115 million tonnes of chemical fertilizer out of which only 35% is used by plants. The remaining 65% is redundant and is therefore one of the major soil pollutants. Due to their disadvantages, chemical fertilizers are being progressively substituted by bio-fertilizers. The extraordinary advantages and sustainability of b...

The wastewater generated from the wineries and breweries contains a large number of organic compounds such as carbohydrates, sugars, organic acids, phenolic compounds, etc., that are highly biodegradable in nature. And thus, the disposal and treatment of these wastes become much easier, but if not treated, these wastes can pose detrimental effects...

Soil salinity, a global issue, is a threat to the agricultural crops. The deposition of excess salt in the soil reduces the growth, development and yield of crops. Initially techniques like leaching and flushing were applied to reclaim such salt infested soil. However, the success rate was low and it greatly affected the agroecosystem. This had led...

Increasing soil salinity acts as a major abiotic stress for crop plants. Increasing global temperatures are leading to greater evaporation from soil, along with change in rainfall patterns, which is resulting in reduced soil water availability for crop plants and increased soil salinity. Consequently, crop plants face water and nutrient shortag...

Blast furnace slag is a by-product from blast furnaces which is used to produce iron. Due to increased industrialization management of this waste is becoming a serious issue. In this investigation, mainly two ways of reuse of the blast furnace slag was exploited. Firstly due to the presence of charcoal in the waste a three tier filter we developed...

Extreme environments act as habitats that nurture a number of magnificent organisms that are tolerant to such harsh environments. These environments include areas with extreme temperatures, pH, salinity, pressure, and heavy metal concentrations. Biological and chemical processes encounter numerous such stressed conditions, control of which makes th...

Microbial biofilms are an aggregation of single or multi-species bacteria that acquires the capacity to adhere to any surface where they can act like a wholesome system chemically “speaking with” each other through quorum sensing. This synergism is very prominently noticed in the rhizospheric regions of plant roots subsequently forming a dome which...

A pair of tridentate ligands incorporating heterocyclic hydrazones of 9,10‐phenanthrenequinone viz,. pyridyl‐hydrazino‐phenathrenequinone HLPy 1a and benzothiazolyl‐hydrazino‐phenathrenequinone HLBenz 1b have been synthesized and both behave as monoanionic towards nickel(II), forming meridional octahedral complexes of type [Ni(LPy)2] 2a and [Ni(LBe...

Soybean (Glycine max) is known as one of the most important legume plants, making a huge commercial contribution to vegetable oil production, meat production, even human nutrition. For marginalized farmers whose livelihood is dependent on soy, organic farming can be a great solution to improve its production. The use of organic farming essentially...

A number of extreme soil environments exist due to variation in soil temperature, salinity, pH, etc. Extremophile microbes, specifically the Bacillus sp. residing in these soils or when added externally can adapt to such extreme environments, can enrich such soil with both macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and micronutrients (zinc, i...

Soil is believed to be one of the greatest reserves of microbial population. Certain studies on spatial ecology show that 1 g of soil can contain as much as 1010 bacterial cells, with a population diversity of approximately 4.103. The impact of these microbes including bacteria, fungi, and other organisms on overall soil health, fertility, and crop...

Microbes tend to exist in polymicrobial communities embedded in a matrix of several compounds produced by themselves such as polysaccharides, proteins, extracellular nucleic acids, such as DNA or RNA, humic substances, signalling molecules, etc. These matrices are known as biofilms. Biofilm formations are triggered in hostile conditions to up-regul...

Yamunotri, the origin of the river Yamuna, is situated at an altitude of 3,293 m in the Garhwal Himalaya and located approximately 30 km North of Uttarkashi, the headquarters of the Uttarkashi district in the Garhwal Division of Uttarakhand, India, where the minimum temperatures range below 10°C throughout the year. The water from the hot spring (S...

Massive use of synthetic formulations is harmful for targeted as well as non-targeted pests and also for humans, which has become a threat for the ecological system. So, it is high time that we focus on selection of the appropriate formulations which are biodegradable with better shelf life, have improved product stability, viability and also cheap...