Nitrogen Fixation in Agriculture, Forestry, Ecology, and the Environment
Sustainability has a major part to play in the global challenge of continued development of regions, countries, and continents all around the World and biological nitrogen fixation has a key role in this process. This volume begins with chapters specifically addressing crops of major global importance, such as soybeans, rice, and sugar cane. It continues with a second important focus, agroforestry, and describes the use and promise of both legume trees with their rhizobial symbionts and other nitrogen-fixing trees with their actinorhizal colonization. An over-arching theme of all chapters is the interaction of the plants and trees with microbes and this theme allows other aspects of soil microbiology, such as interactions with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the impact of soil-stress factors on biological nitrogen fixation, to be addressed. Furthermore, a link to basic science occurs through the inclusion of chapters describing the biogeochemically important nitrogen cycle and its key relationships among nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification. The volume then provides an up-to-date view of the production of microbial inocula, especially those for legume crops.
Mycorrhizae : Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry
This book discusses and goes into detail on a number of topics: the molecular basis of nutrient exchange between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and host plants; the role of AM fungi in disease protection, alleviation of soil stresses and increasing grain production; interactions of AM fungi and beneficial saprophytic mycoflora in terms of plant growth promotion; the role of AM fungi in the restoration of native ecosystems; indirect contributions of AM fungi and soil aggregation to plant growth and mycorrhizosphere effect of multitrophic interaction; the mechanisms by which mycorrhizas change a disturbed ecosystem into productive land; the importance of reinstallation of mycorrhizal systems in the rhizosphere is emphasized and their impact on landscape regeneration, and in bioremediation of contaminated soils; Ectomycorrhizae (ECM) and their importance in forest ecosystems and associations of ECM in tropical rain forests function to maintain tropical monodominance; in vitro mycorrhization of micro-propagated plants, and visualizing and quantifying endorhizal fungi; the use of mycorrhizae, mainly AM and ECM, for sustainable agriculture and forestry.
Mycorrhiza : State of the Art, Genetics and Molecular Biology, Eco-Function, Biotechnology, Eco-Physiology, Structure and Systematics
This third updated and revised edition emphasises strongly on genetics and molecular biology. It contains new chapters, which are written by the leading experts in their respective field of knowledge and expertise.Mycorrhizas are symbioses between fungi and the roots of higher plants. As more than 90% of all known species of plants have the potential to form mycorrhizal associations, the productivity and species composition and the diversity of natural ecosystems are frequently dependent upon the presence and activity of mycorrhizas. The biotechnological application of mycorrhizas is expected to promote the production of food while maintaining ecologically and economically sustainable production systems.
In Vitro Culture of Mycorrhizas
biologists have made important progress in understanding better the functioning of AM fungi. An in vitro technique has been developed using mycorrhizal root organ cultures, which made it possible to investigate the genetics, cell biology and physiology of AM fungi. We can now be objective enough to critically evaluate the impacts the in vitro technique has had to improve our knowledge on mycorrhizal symbiosis.



