This book mainly focuses on the recent trends and sustainability challenges in the valorization of agro-wastes, emphasizing the role of microbial biotechnology. Processing of various kinds of agro-wastes such as lignocellulosic materials, food industry wastes, dairy wastes, etc., into several bioactive compounds, enzymes, biofuels, biogas, biofertilizers, nutraceuticals, nanoparticles, etc., will be discussed elaborately in more detail. This book investigates the theoretical and practical aspects of modern research regarding the valorization of agro-wastes through microbial technology. Moreover, the role of valorization research in circular bio-economy will also be addressed in this book.
Dr. Shyama Prasad Saha is presently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at, the University of North Bengal, West Bengal, India. He has been teaching for the past 11 years and has also taught at the Post-Graduate level in the Department of Tea Science, Department of the Food Technology, University of North Bengal. He has done his Ph.D. in Biotechnology with a specialization in Microbial biotechnology and enzymology. His Ph.D. research dealt with the production of microbial xylanase and its role in xylitol production from agro-wastes. Presently, he is working on carbohydrate-active enzymes (Cazymes), antibiotic-producing microbes, plant growth-promoting bacteria, and probiotic bacteria. He has actively participated in both National and International conferences held in India. He has published quite a several research and review papers in well-known international journals of good repute. He is Active Member of the Microbiological Society of India (MSI), India.
Dr. Deepika Mazumdar is currently working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, North Bengal St. Xavier’s College, Jalpaiguri. She has been teaching for the fast 4 years. She has extensive research experience of more than 10 years and completed her Ph.D. from Department of Biotechnology, University of North Bengal. In her Ph.D. journey, she worked with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and study their effect on plant growth promotion. She had good number of research publication in various international high impact peer reviewed journal. She participated and presented her work on various national and international conferences.
Dr. Swarnendu Roy is presently working as Assistant Professor at the University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India. He has more than 11 years of teaching experience. His doctoral thesis involved understanding the mechanism of salinity stress tolerance in grasses mainly Cynodon dactylon and Imperatacylindrica by comparative evaluation with the model grass rice. He has published more than 25 articles in reputed journals and book chapters in edited volumes to date. Presently, he is actively engaged in research topics encompassing mechanism of salinity and drought stress, stress management by engineered nanoparticles and bioinformatics study of stress-related transcription factors. He is presently supervising 4 research scholars including 3 UGC-JRFs. He has also recently received International Travel Support (ITS) from DST, Govt. of India to present his research paper at International Conference on Integrative Plant Physiology at Sitges, Spain (27–29 October 2019).
Dr. Piyush Mathur is presently working as Assistant Professor in Department of Botany, University of North Bengal, West Bengal, India. His research interests are climate change and biotic stress, microbial diversity, and plant disease management. He has done his Ph.D. in Botany with specialization in Mycology and Plant Pathology from University of Delhi. His Ph.D. research dealt with the effect of elevated carbon dioxide on plant-pathogen interactions in Brassica juncea. He has published several research and review papers in well-known international journals of good repute. At the same time, he has contributed articles in the form of book chapters in International books. He has presented papers in the form of papers and oral presentations in a number of National and International conferences held in India and abroad. He is Active Member of the Society of Rapeseed Mustard Research (SRMR), Bharatpur and Delhi University Botanical Society (DUBS) Delhi, India.
