Metal and Metalloid Contamination: Challenges and Mitigations for Sustainable Agriculture

This book brings together the consequences and mitigation strategies of metal and metalloid contamination in agroecosystem alone or in combinations with adversities imposed by climate fluctuations. It explores the molecular responses of crops to metal exposure on a genomic, transcriptomic and metabolomic levels. It also discusses the complex interactions between reactive oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur species and heavy metal toxicity while highlighting the pivotal role of secondary metabolites in mitigating this metal-induced toxicity and accumulation. Further, the book also covers defense mechanisms in crops, and the impact of soil supplements and nanotechnology-based interventions in reducing metal toxicity. It also explores the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT-driven technologies in detecting and monitoring this environmental pollution. Finally, it implements bioavailability-based risk assessments for soil heavy metals and discusses the strategies to mitigate the consequences of toxic metals contamination in the food chain.

This book is an essential resource for researchers, agronomists, environmental scientists, and policymakers dedicated to advancing sustainable agricultural practices in the face of heavy metal contamination.

Dr. Debojyoti Moulick is a graduate in microbiology and post-graduate in biotechnology. He was awarded M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees in environmental science by University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India. After this, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Assam University, Silchar, India. Dr. Moulick has experience in biomonitoring, seed priming technology and phytotoxicity, grain quality analysis etc. in soil–water–crop agroecosystem. He has published 50+ research and review articles and book chapters with international publishers.

Dr. Akbar Hossain is presently working as a Principal Scientist at Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute (BWMRI), Bangladesh. Dr. Hossain obtained his PhD degree from the Institute of Ecology and Biological Sciences, Astrakhan State University, Astrakhan, Russian Federation and post-doc from BCKV-India. The research interest and expertise of Dr. Hossain are on climate change impact assessment on food security, plant physiology, defense mechanisms against stress, crop management, soil conservation, agricultural engineering, weed management and conservation agriculture, crop modelling etc. He has authored more than 500 national and international journal publications.