Suprasanna Penna

• Ph.D. (Genetics)
• Former Division Head at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

This handbook focuses on advances in agricultural tools and techniques, which includes. Still, it is not limited to, robotics, drones, laser scarecrows, smart phones, remote sensing, geographic information system, and soil sensors, as well as their applications to make farming smarter and timely steps to reduce crop damage, improve water use effici...

The most significant source of curcumin is from the genus Curcuma, which has long been utilized in numerous traditional remedies. Curcuma inodora, is one of the 40 species of Curcuma found in India, it has remained a little-studied species despite its diverse qualities and significance in the pharmaceutical and floriculture industries. This plant s...

Sesuvium portulacastrum is a facultative halophyte that survives under various abiotic stresses including salinity, drought, temperature, and heavy metal stress. S. portulacastrum is generally found in the subtropical, coastal, and warmer climates and shows great physiological and biochemical plasticity that allows it to survive under various envir...

Soil salinization is severely impacting global arable land, necessitating an urgent need for innovative strategies for remediation and/or cultivation of resilient plant species that can thrive in high-salinity environments. Sesuvium portulacastrum, known for its robust adaptability to saline and degraded soils, stands out as a potential candidate f...

Soil salinization is a significant challenge to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Global agriculture is increasingly affected by soil salinization due to poor irrigation practices, seawater intrusion, excessive use of chemical fertilizers, and natural causes. Substantial investments in research and innovation have been made in var...

Sesuvium portulacastrum, a facultative edible halophyte, is characterized by a remarkable molecular and physiological adaptability, making it an ideal system for studying plant resilience under environmental stress. The ability of S. portulacastrum to cope with salt stress attributed to a variety of physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechani...

Halophytes represent a remarkable group of plants capable of thriving in saline soils, having a crucial role in reducing soil erosion and offering diverse benefits such as fodder, energy production, medicinal applications, and phytoremediation. Among the halophytes, Sesuvium portulacastrum stands out as a key species garnering great interest due to...

Micropropagation in sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) is widely employed for high-quality seed production. The acclimatization of micropropagated plantlets is a significant challenge in ensuring successful transplantation and robust growth. Acclimatization success is crucial for the viability of technology and its economy. Therefore, various primin...

The successful integration of doubled haploids in biotechnology and breeding has ushered in a new era of innovation in crop improvement. This chapter deals with the notable successful examples on the utilization of doubled haploids. Doubled haploids have become invaluable tools for crop breeders for the ability to rapidly generate homozygous lines....

Maternal haploids, harboring only a single set of chromosomes from the mother plant, have revolutionized plant breeding and crop improvement. By circumventing the lengthy process of natural chromosome doubling, these maternal haploids dramatically accelerate the breeding cycle, resulting in the development of completely homozygous doubled haploid (...

Over the years, the interventions of genomics tools have paved the way for molecular breeding to meet the challenges of food security and climate resilience. Advances in plant molecular breeding encompassing approaches of genomics, molecular markers, genetic transformation and genome editing have revolutionized crop improvement. Successful applicat...

Biomanufacturing of recombinant proteins in the microalgae has become an important field of research owing to sustainability, scalability, safety, and metabolic diversity of the microalgal system. Recovery of the recombinant protein from the host system needs to be devised and established, since the conventional downstream process for recombinant p...

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that drastically affects overall crop production. Most of the crop plants are sensitive to salinity, and in contrast, halophytes are plants resistant to even higher salt concentrations and can grow under high salinity, and throughout their evolution, holophilic plants have adapted various strategies to endure unde...

Food security is a global concern, necessitating continuous advancements in crop improvement. This chapter discusses the pivotal role of induced mutagenesis in enhancing genetic diversity for improved agronomic traits. The escalating challenges of population growth, resource depletion, and climate change underscore the urgency for novel technologie...

Cadmium (Cd) is classified as the most toxic metal and is a group 1 carcinogen. Plant growth and crop yield are severely affected by the uptake of cadmium. Cd toxicity in plants causes reduced chlorophyll synthesis, declined photosynthesis, distressed plant water metabolism as well as hormonal and/or nutritional imbalances. Molecular mechanism of C...

Transposable genetic elements (TEs) are dynamic DNA sequences that significantly impact plant gene expression, enabling adaptation to environmental stresses. This review explores the role of TEs in plant adaptation, focusing on the mechanisms of TE activation and suppression, including chromatin remodeling, DNA modifications, and small interfering...

Salinity is one of the abiotic constraints which continue to threaten crop productivity. Plant breeding programs utilize conventional methods, molecular tools, and farm management strategies to refine and modulate cultivars’ tolerance to salinity stress. Salt tolerance is a complex, multigenic attribute regulated over several genetic pathways and t...

is book focuses on recent advances in Molecular Tools, Nanotechnology and Arti cial Intelligence to monitor, manage and improve horticultural crops in terms of plant growth, nutrient de ciency, toxicity, diseases, abiotic stress, soil amendments and agrochemicals entering the surrounding environment. e book consists of chapters grouped in parts. Pa...

In vitro mutagenesis is an indispensable and effectual method of mutation breeding which can be applied in comprehensive endeavours of different agricultural areas to sustain the needs of an ever-expanding and nutritionally demanding human population as well as to combat climate change. Mutagenesis has helped in developing a large number of improve...

Secondary metabolites (SMs) produced by plants possesses important therapeutic activities which are used to treat various diseases and disorders. However, in natural plants, SMs are synthesized in limited concentration and it varies according to climatic and geographical conditions. Over the years, production of SMs is continuously increasing and t...

Biotechnological Production of Bioactive Phytochemicals of Medicinal Value: A Comprehensive Treatise covers a broad variety of methods for secondary metabolites production (both pharmaceuticals and cosmeceuticals), compiling state-of-the-art material about the current knowledge of in vitro production for a large number of bioactive phytochemicals....

Drought is one of the major yield-limiting factors under climatic adversaries. The positive role of silicon (Si) in drought tolerance of plants has unfolded a new avenue for enhancing crop productivity through better Si use efficiency. It is hence interesting to understand the mechanistic insights pertaining to its beneficial roles under drought st...

Curcuma sp., a genus of the Zingiberaceae family, is known for its diverse medicinal properties and is widely distributed across India, particularly in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. These varieties, historically used in Ayurveda and traditional medicine, contribute significantly to the medicinal practices of tribal people. Most of them are cate...

Essential oils (EOs), derived from the different plant parts including flowers, leaves, barks, roots, stems, and fruits, are an intricate blend of hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons. These are primarily composed of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils and are known for particular fragrance to the pla...

Arsenic (As) contamination of soil is an alarming problem and, flora and fauna are greatly affected with reduced growth and development. The two forms of inorganic As (iAs), arsenate [As(V)] and arsenite [As(III)], are easily taken up by plant roots through various transporters and are toxic to plants and therefore disrupt major plant metabolic act...

Induced mutagenesis has emerged as an essential field of plant breeding to address global food security challenges, offering tools to enhance crop productivity, resistance, and nutritional value. Among the mutation induction tools, the physical mutagen such as gamma rays holds promise for efficient mutation induction. Gamma rays, a type of high-ene...

This book collates a wide spectrum of topics relevant to contemporary research achievement in sustainable utilization of plant genetic resources and conservation of plant genetic diversity within the framework of different crop systems. It introduces the status of crop genetic diversity and provides prospects for the conservation of crop genetic di...

This book collates a wide spectrum of topics relevant to achieving sustainable utilization and conservation of plant genetic diversity within the framework of different crop systems, introduces the status of crop genetic diversity, and provides prospects for the conservation of crop genetic diversity for sustainable agriculture. The book consists o...

This book is a comprehensive review of secondary metabolite production from plant tissue culture. The editors have compiled 12 meticulously organized chapters that provide the relevant theoretical and practical frameworks in this subject using empirical research findings. The goal of the book is to explain the rationale behind in vitro production o...

Salt stress is one of the most severe environmental stresses limiting the productivity of crops, including rice. However, there is a lack of information on how salt-stress sensitivity varies across different developmental stages in rice. In view of this, a comparative evaluation of contrasting rice varieties CSR36 (salt tolerant) and Jaya (salt sen...

The agriculture industry has evolved significantly over the last 50 years. Technology developments have led to larger, quicker, and more productive farm equipment, enabling the more efficient cultivation of larger areas. Additionally, improved irrigation, fertilizers, and seed have helped farmers to increase crops. New technologies such as artifici...

Plants, being immobile, are vulnerable to a variety of environmental challenges, including abiotic stresses such as high temperatures, low temperatures, flooding, drought, heavy metal toxicity, and high salt levels, all of which can negatively impact plant growth and productivity. These stresses can cause a variety of plant responses, including the...

Plant genetic engineering is a potential tool to speed-up the process of development of elite crop varieties with improved agronomic traits such as resistance to biotic, abiotic stresses and improved nutritional quality. The two most widely used methods for genetic transformation of plants are Agrobacterium-mediated method and biolistic transformat...

Abiotic stresses present a severe threat to crop yield, causing more productivity losses than any other factor in rainfed agriculture. Traditional plant breeding approaches have shown limited success due to the complex nature of stress tolerance. To breed better-adapted varieties, it is crucial to integrate various integrated, research domains, inc...

Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) is a halophyte, adapted to grow naturally under saline environments. The ability to use Na and K interchangeably indicated its facultative halophyte nature. No significant growth reduction occurs in seedlings up to 250 mM NaCl, except for curling of the youngest leaf. Within 8 h of salt treatment, seedlings accumulate p...

Sesuvium portulacastrum is a facultative halophyte capable of thriving in a saline environment. Despite molecular studies conducted to unravel its salt adaptation mechanism, there is a paucity of information on the role of salt-responsive orthologs and microRNAs (miRNAs) in this halophyte. Here, we searched the orthology to identify salt-responsive...

Plant breeding aimed at crop improvement is dependent upon the genetic variability in the available genetic resources. This is essentially required as the current scenario of food security is threatened by several agricultural, climatic, and population issues which necessitate an increased food production channel. Often plant breeders attempt to in...

Nutritional security has become the prime concern for world agriculture through improving the nutritional quality of crop plants and fostering nutri-rich crops. Malnutrition in the developing countries and increased occurrence of several health problems are now the major global challenges. Cowpea is a prime pulse legume grown predominantly in the t...

Nutritional insecurity has become a major concern for the ever growing world population. Millets are small-seeded cereal crops which are underutilized and neglected but possess abundant micronutrients and minerals. Millets are predominantly cultivated in Asia and Africa, and are an excellent alternative to major staple foods because of minimal wate...

Microalgae are a natural source of lipids, carotenoids, and other value-added compounds. The combination of nutrients and their precise ratio have a significant impact on the productivity of microalgae-mediated compounds. The biomass, lipid, chlorophyll, and carotenoid production of three microalgae species, namely, Monoraphidium sp., Chlorella sor...

Citrus, belonging to the Rutaceae family, is a commercial fruit worldwide, and it is mainly recognized for its nutritional, anti-oxidant, and significant medicinal properties. Citruses are a group of multifaceted fruit crops with a rich traditional knowledge, deeply rooted in ethnic culture, and the fruits have been considered to be health-protecti...

Book title: Mutation Breeding for Sustainable Food Production and Climate Resilience Food security continues to be at the center stage of agriculture development. Several factors including climate change, growing population, and dwindling natural resources continue to mount pressure on finding sustainable solutions. Against this backdrop, it is im...

Plant mutation breeding has become a major tool for the improvement of crop plants. Mutation breeding of crop plants is achieved by using physical and/or chemical mutagens in plants propagated via vegetative and sexual modes of propagation. Optimized protocols for the isolation of mutants, their screening and handling of mutant population are now f...

Climate change has an impact on global agricultural productivity. Increased food demand and significant reduction in crop yields are projected to worsen as a result of global warming. This scenario has prompted plant scientists to produce climate change resilient crops that can endure a wide range of conditions, including drought, heat, cold, salt,...

Induced mutation technology is a powerful means to introduce novel genetic variability for use in crop improvement. Induced mutants have been developed in several crop plants and economic use of the mutant varieties has demonstrated their potential across the globe. Sugarcane is an important cash crop cultivated primarily for its distinctive sucros...

Crop plants are exposed to a multitude of biotic and abiotic factors, which necessitates improving tolerance/resistance in plant germplasm using conventional, mutagenesis and biotechnological approaches. Several induced mutants have been improved for tolerance/resistance with other desirable characteristics and mutant varieties have been released f...

Globally, sustainable agriculture and food production systems face unprecedented challenges from population expanse, declining land, and water resources besides climate change. Climate change-driven factors like variation in temperature and precipitation patterns, the spread of drought and salinity on farmlands, increasing soil and water pollution,...

Schizo-saccharomyces pombe (S.pombe) has been playing a pivotal role in biotech industries as a source of glucans; a biological response modifiers (BRM) and also been studied as a model strain for recombinant proteins in molecular biology. Owing to the presence of > 60% glucans in their cell wall structure, the present research was designed to unde...

Plants have long been exploited as a sustainable source of food, flavors, agrochemicals, colors, therapeutic proteins, bioactive compounds, and stem cell production. However, plant habitats are being briskly lost due to scores of environmental factors and human disturbances. This necessitates finding a viable alternative technology for the continuo...

Abiotic stresses including drought and salinity have become frontier areas in agricultural research, particularly due to their damaging potential to threaten global food security in near future. Constantly increasing soil salinity has severely damaged the global production of staple food crops. The ever-increasing world population is critically str...

Natural and anthropogenic causes are significant sources of metals in the ecosystem; hence, heavy metal (HM) accumulation has become a primary environmental concern. HM contamination poses a serious threat to plants. A major focus of global research has been to develop cost-effective and proficient phytoremediation technologies to rehabilitate HM-c...

Fruit species contribute to nutritional and health security by providing micronutrients, antioxidants, and bioactive phytoconstituents, and hence fruit-based products are becoming functional foods presently and for the future. Although conventional breeding methods have yielded improved varieties having fruit quality, aroma, antioxidants, yield, an...

An indigenous reddish-brown landrace rice of the indica variety known as Hassawi rice (Oryza sativa L.) is cultivated in Saudi Arabia. This rice variety produces favourable metabolic profiles and possesses medicinal properties associated with nutritive and non-nutritive bioactive components. The health benefits of consuming Hassawi rice should be e...

Citrus plants have a secure and important place in human health. Citrus is not only significant for its delicious fruits but also because of certain medicinal and pharmacological properties. The presence of secondary metabolites like flavonoids, limonoids, alkaloids, phenolics and coumarins has dramatically increased its efficacy in treating bacter...

Sustainable management of plant diseases has become crucial in the context of climate change and food security. In this regard, several plant disease control methods are in use, however the RNA silencing or RNA interference (RNAi) technology is a promising tool for molecular breeding aimed at crop improvement that is efficacious, environmentally sa...

Potassium (K+) is indispensable for the regulation of a plethora of functions like plant metabolism, growth, development, and abiotic stress responses. K+ is associated with protein synthesis and entangled in the activation of scores of enzymes, stomatal regulation, and photosynthesis. It has multiple transporters and channels that assist in the up...

Drought restricts plant growth and productivity. Silicon has beneficial effects on imparting drought tolerance in plants. Present work was intended to evaluate the effect of Si on polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG) induced osmotic stress in local landraces of finger millet. The seeds of stress-tolerant and stress-sensitive landraces of finger millet we...

Drought restricts plant growth and productivity. Silicon has beneficial effects on imparting drought tolerance in plants. Present work was intended to evaluate the effect of Si on polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG) induced osmotic stress in local landraces of finger millet. The seeds of stress-tolerant and stress-sensitive landraces of finger millet we...

In vitro mutagenesis offers a feasible approach for developing new orchid cultivars through genetic manipulation. In the present study, protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) were exposed to gamma rays (10, 20, 40, 60, 80 Gy) to study in vitro growth responses and induction of mutants in Dendrobium ‘Emma White’. Both proliferation and regeneration of PLBs de...

Improvement of crop plants relies on the availability of plant genetic variation. There are several approaches for enhancing genetic variability and for breeding better genotypes to achieve high productivity to meet the demands of food security. India is an agrarian country, whose economic development is vastly dependent on sustained growth and ach...

Background:Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), a major nutritional source cultivated worldwide, is vulnerable to several abiotic and biotic stresses, including different types of soil-borne pathogens like Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri, which causes root rot disease and severely affects productivity.Methods and resultsIn this study, putative transgeni...

Cesium (Cs) is a soil contaminant and toxic to the ecosystem, especially the plant species. In this study, we have assessed the potential of a halophyte Sesuvium portulacastrum for its Cs tolerance and accumulation. Thirty days old S. portulacastrum plants were subjected to different concentrations of Cs (0, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 150 mg·L⁻¹ Cs) using...