eBook Chapters

Introduction

Introduction of improved high yielding varieties of crop plants, use of modern agricultural practices coupled with essential control of pests of food and fiber crops have significantly contributed towards increasing the food production in green revolution era in India. Pesticide application forms the foremost limb in hiked agricultural food production and management practices. The production and post production management of crop yield requires increased use of pesticides.

Definition

“Biological pesticides”, or “Biopesticides” as the name suggests, are naturally occurring substances that biologically control harmful pests, especially among field crops. These are naturally produced bio chemical materials basically non-toxic to the environment that can be employed in pest control. Biopesticides could mean living organisms (bacteria, virus, and algae), their products (biochemicals produced by them) and also plant byproducts. Biopesticides offer an ecologically effective solution to the harmful effects of synthetic pesticides.

Chemical pesticides though extremely effective in controlling pest population suffer from disadvantages. They have a broad toxic range and potentially toxic to non target organisms. Other constraints that have emerged with the use of chemical pesticides such as development of resistance and resurgence in insects, residual toxicity, secondary outbreak of minor insect pests, etc., In this juncture, the biopesticides have proven to be effective tool in managing the devastating insect pests of various crops.

The biopesticides are types of pesticides derived from natural materials such as microorganisms, plants, animals and certain minerals. They are living organisms or their products or byproducts, which can be used for the management of pests that are injurious to crop plants. Biopesticides have a vital role in crop protection, although most commonly in combination with other tools including chemical pesticides as part of integrated pest management (IPM). Microorganisms help to regulate the abundance of many pests or potential pests without any cost to society. Microbes can be increased artificially and thereby achieve faster, higher and more consistent control of the target pests that will occur naturally. Insect pathogens that are transmissible in nature from one host to another offer an important bonus effect that chemical insecticides do not have. A pathogen will kill pests exposed and many continue killing them by natural transmission from one individual host to another through subsequent host generation.

Biopesticides generally have several advantages compared to conventional pesticides. While chemical pesticides are responsible for extensive pollution of the environment, a serious health hazard due to the presence of their residues in food and development of resistance in targeted insect pest populations, biopesticides, in contrast, are inherently less toxic to humans and the environment, do not leave harmful residues, and are usually more specific to target pests. The agents employed as biopesticides, include parasites, predetors and disease causing fungi, bacteria and viruses, which are the natural enemies of pests. Utilization of naturally occurring parasites, predators and pathogens for pest control is a classical biological control. These bio agents can be conserved, preserved and multiplied under laboratory condition for field release. Once these bio-agents are introduced in the field to build their population considerably, they are capable of bringing down the targeted pest population below economic threshold level (ETL).

1. INTRODUCTION

Packaging waste forms a significant part of solid waste and has caused increasing environmental concerns, resulting in strengthening of various regulations aimed at reducing the amounts generated. A wide range of oil-based polymers is currently used for packaging of various products by different industries including the food industry. These are virtually non-biodegradable and some are difficult to recycle or re-use as they are complex composites having varying levels of contaminants and pose serious health concerns. In the recent years, the use of bio-based and biodegradable products as packaging material has generated a lot of interest amongst researchers as they bring out a significant contribution to sustainable development with a wider range of disposal options.

Bioplastics are polymers that are capable of undergoing decomposition into CO₂, H₂O and inorganic compounds or biomass through predominantly the enzymatic action of microorganisms. Some of these polymers can also be compostable, which leads to their decomposition in a compost site at a rate consistent with known compostable materials. The market for these environmentally friendly materials is expanding rapidly, at the rate of 10–20 per cent per year. The global market for biodegradable polymers exceeds 114 million pounds and is expected to rise at an average annual growth rate of 12.6 per cent to 206 million pounds by 2020.

Bio-based packaging materials are mostly used to pack short shelf-life products, like fresh fruits and vegetables, and long shelf-life products, like pasta and chips, which do not require very high oxygen and/or water barrier properties. However, the inventory of films shows a wide variety in properties, which could make them applicable as a packaging material for other food products with stricter conditions, like MAP packaging. One of the challenges faced by the food packaging industry in its efforts to produce bio-based primary packaging, is to match the durability of the packaging with product shelf-life. The bio-based material offers great potential for the packaging industry. However, it is important to realize that a thorough evaluation of the functional properties of a bio-based material is essential before it can be used as an alternative for the traditional film materials.

Tropical root and tuber crops are important staples for food security for about a fifth of the world population. Tropical root and tuber crops like cassava, sweet potato, yams and aroids [taro and elephant foot yam] come under tropical root and tuber crops. Sweet potato, yams and colocasia are processed mainly as fresh vegetable, whereas 75% of the cassava in Africa, 75-80% in Asia and 65% in Latin America are processed either as fermented foods and feeds or as food additives such as starch, starch based sweeteners (glucose and fructose syrups), organic acids (acetic, lactic, glutamic and gluconic), mono-sodium glutamate and microbial polysaccharides (xanthan, pullulan, scleroglucan, etc).

Ethnopharmacology and Traditional medines use natural resources as medicines. They have developed the knowledge of this through the generations of traditions and experiences. Therefore the protection of this knowledge and protection of natural resources both remain critical. Bioprospecting involves sustainable, ethical and legal processes to access natural resources and use them judicially so that the business needs do not pose any threat to nature and to people.

One important consideration is assuring the preservation of traditional knowledge, particularly oral knowledge, within communities, for the potential benefit of others. Developing mechanisms to document traditional knowledge, such as national inventories, can be beneficial in identifying cases where conservation or cultivation is needed, based on an understanding of existing natural resources used for medicinal purposes. Decisions about access and ownership of information can also be made (including those relating to intellectual property rights, where appropriate) once methods have been found to collect and preserve traditional knowledge. On the other hand, the livelihood of traditional healers may depend on maintaining the secrecy of their healing methods - one argument for consulting with traditional healers as part of the process of planning and executing the collection, storage and testing of traditional medicines.

Extending some form of intellectual property protection to traditional knowledge, of which traditional medical knowledge is a significant part, is being actively debated in WIPO and other international forums. Existing intellectual property regimes can offer protection for purified compounds (produced by scientists and companies) isolated from a natural medicine. But traditional medicines, whose method of action may not be well understood, and which often consist of mixtures of different active substances, may not meet criteria for patentability. The principal impetus for international debate is a desire to compensate the holders of traditional knowledge appropriately for the use of their knowledge by others, or to prevent so-called “biopiracy” where knowledge or genetic materials are used without the consent of the holder. China and Kenya are examples of countries that have modified their laws in an effort to accommodate traditional medicine. It is not intended that the Commission should enter into this debate, except in so far as aspects of it may be relevant to its terms of reference, in particular stimulating innovation in traditional medicine with the purpose of expanding access to affordable medicines.

The systematic exploration of the biological diversity of valuable compounds and organisms has emerged as a promising avenue for aquaculture and fisheries. As global demand for seafood continues to rise, coupled with the increasing challenges of overfishing and environmental degradation, the quest for sustainable solutions has intensified. Bioprospecting in aquaculture involves the identification and utilization of novel marine organisms, including microorganisms, algae, and invertebrates, for the development of aquafeeds, pharmaceuticals, and bioactive compounds. The exploration of untapped genetic resources in fisheries can lead to the discovery of resilient and economically valuable fish species, contributing to the diversification of aquaculture production. The integration of bioprospecting into aquaculture and fishery practices holds immense promise for fostering sustainable development, ensuring food security, and mitigating the environmental impacts of traditional practices. However, successful implementation requires a balanced approach that considers economic, social, and environmental factors, ultimately guiding the industry toward a more resilient and ecologically responsible future.

14.1 Introduction

Proteins are the substances formed from nitrogen containing amino acids and are principle structural components of body tissues and muscle. In addition, they are used to produce various hormones, enzymes and hemoglobin in human body. Due to the shift from agricultural to electronics and other fast paying industrial development, most of the countries around the world, ceased to be self-sufficient in their food production in particular protein, which is necessary to satisfy their optimum food demands. The biotechnology development and its usage to agriculture have brought hope to them. The need for food by modernization of agriculture has gained much attention throughout the world. However, the necessity for exploring unconventional and non-agricultural means of food production, especially of proteins rich food, cannot be over-emphasized due to the tremendous growth of human populations in several regions of the world. In addition to this, the importance of protein in food nutrient cannot be put aside because its shortage causes various malnutrition problems and the most lethal malnutrition problem is Protein-Energy-Malnutrition (PEM). The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, or one in eight, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2010-2012. There are 925 million people undernourished in developed countries (FAO October, 2010). This situation has created a demand for the formulation of innovative and alternative proteinaceous food sources having high nutritional value. These sources have to be non-competitive with food for human consumption, economically feasible and locally available. This demands a search for new protein sources, with high nutritional value, economically feasible and locally available. Use of microbes as a food source is one of the biotechnological innovations that will certainly increase the availability of affordable protein in the world to solve the global food and feed problems.

In recent decades there has been an increased interest in the industrial production of microbiological protein for use in both human and animal nutrition. The main reason behind it is that there has been the shortage of low cost protein sources in view of the increasing human population and living standards, resulting in famine in some parts of the world and increased demand for animal protein in others.

A judicious use of cytology will be beneficial to the practicing veterinarians as diagnosis is available within a shortest period of time and can decide on proper treatment e.g. TVT can be successfully treated medically without surgical intervention.

Diagnostic Approach in Clinical Set Up

• Clinical investigation
• Clinical pathology
• Necropsy
• Biopsy
• Cytology
• Histopathology
• Electron microscopy
• Fluorescent antibody techniques
• Immunohistochemistry
• Genomic techniques
• Microarray
• Proteomics
• Metabolomics etc.

ABSTRACT

An understanding of the metabolism of heavy metals facilitates biotechnological use of these functions just recently, although heavy metals comprise the major part of the elements in the periodic table. Due to their ability to form complex compounds, some heavy metals are essential trace elements. In any case, essential or not, most heavy metals are toxic at higher concentration. Heavy metal pollution from last few decades has led to an increased environmental concern. Heavy metal like cadmium is a non-essential toxic heavy metal and is also being increased in soil during last few years posing a serious threat to environment and human health worldwide. Therefore, remediation strategies of the contaminated sites are great concerns and can be achieved by a number of different physico-chemical and biological means.

1. INTRODUCTION

Chemical pesticides are designed to control or eliminate pests such as insects, rodents, weeds, bacteria, and fungus. Although pesticides have played a significant role in increasing food production and controlling various diseases in the agriculture system but indiscriminate use of pesticides has resulted in contamination of soil, water bodies’ etc. raising deep concern about food safety and human health. Excessive use of these harmful chemicals affects kidneys, developing fetus, and liver immuno-suppression and increased incidence of breast cancer. Some of these pesticides are also reported as mutagenic. Other health related problems such as impaired memory and concentration, severe depression, headache, etc have also been reported.

Through field survey (Kadian et al., 2010) it has been found that chlorpyrifos is a widely used pesticide in household application as well as in horticulture crop in National capital region Delhi. This tempted us to understand the nature of chlorpyrifos (CPF) and its metabolites and assess the suitability of available techniques for detoxification of contaminated soil.

Abstract

Excessive use and treatment of soil with pesticides under the adage, “if little is good, a lot more will be better” has played havoc with human and other life forms and can also cause populations of beneficial soil microorganisms to decline, which indirectly affect soil fertility. Soil constitutes a major environmental sink for many pesticides. These pesticides are either taken up from soil by plants and then pass into the bodies of invertebrates, water or air, directly or indirectly and affect public health and beneficial biota of the ecosystem. Bioremediation provides very attractive, eco-friendly and economic solution to many of our hazardous pollution problems. For both economic and ecological reasons, biological degradation has become an increasingly popular alternative for treatment of hazardous wastes.

Introduction

Soil pollution is anything that causes contamination of soil and degrades the soil quality. It occurs when the pollutants causing the pollution decrease the quality of the soil and convert the soil inhabitable for micro and macro organisms living in the soil. Soil pollution can occur either because of human activities and/or natural processes. However, mainly it is due to human activities. The soil contamination can occur due to the presence of chemicals such as ammonia, pesticides, lead, herbicides, mercury, nitrate, naphthalene, petroleum hydrocarbons, etc. in an excess amount.

Soils can be polluted with several organic and inorganic pollutants. Organic pollutants contain hazardous persistent organic compounds viz. polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated naphthalines (PCNs) and other persistent organic compounds. Inorganic pollutants contain heavy metals like lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), arsenic (As) and nickel (Ni) as well as some radioactive compounds or radionuclides. The major sources of soil pollutants are anthropogenic. It contains mainly two sources, point and diffuse; the point sources contains industrial wastes, municipal wastes, domestic wastes, medical wastes, agrochemicals, agricultural wastes, composts and sludges and nuclear wastes. Organic and inorganic soil pollutants can be toxic for plants, animals soil organisms and others. Some compound of the soil pollutants enter into the food chain and can adversely affect on human health. Soil pollutants can be also transferred to surrounding air and water through leaching, volatilization, runoff and dust storms. Quality of air and water adversely affected can be degraded. Thus, remediation of polluted soils has become an awful necessity in many areas of the world.

Introduction

Bioremediation can be defined as elimination, attenuation or transformation of polluting or contaminating substances by the use of biological processes, to minimize the risk to human health and the environment. Bioremediation of contaminated soil and water uses microbes (e.g. bacteria and fungi) to convert pollutants to harmless or more environmentally acceptable products and minimizes the risk to human health in a natural or managed process.

The bio-resources application in the soil is known to improve the biological properties of the soil. Several earlier reports show a spur in microbial populations or increased microbial biomass carbon and the enhanced enzymatic activities with the incorporation of bio-resources in soil (Perucci, 1990; Goyal et al., 1993; Bonde et al., 2004).

Microbial populations

Indigenous microbial populations in soil are of fundamental importance for an eco system functioning, through determining nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and energy flow (Doran and Zeiss, 2000).

Organic manures

Anand Swarup (1992) stated that application of green manures along with rice husk increased the concentrations of N, P, Zn, Mn and Fe and decreased the Na concentration of rice in a reclaimed sodic soil. Kolambe and Patel (1994) reported that application of organic amendments along with phosphorus increased the uptake of phosphorus at different growth stages of rice.

Talashilkar and Chavan (1997) reported that incorporation of 10 t of Glyricidia ha^-1 and application of 100 per cent RDF recorded the highest total N uptake by rice over three successive years. Mishra and Sharma (1997) found that application of 100 per cent NPK + 10 t FYM ha^-1 resulted in highest total uptake of NPK by rice. Mahapatra etal. (1997) revealed that application of 80 kg N ha^-1 through green manure alone or through combined use of green manure and urea increased the total uptake of N by rice over application of fertilizers alone.

In the global scenario, the increasing energy crisis and consequent escalation of chemical fertilizer prices along with increasing risk associated with soil degradation have reviewed interest in bio-resources for attaining soil health and sustainable crop production. The use of organic manures, bio-fertilizers and chemical fertilizers will augment the efficiency of combined application of nutrients to maintain a high level of soil productivity and rice production (Thakuria et al., 1991; Prasad et al., 1995). Several experimental evidences showed that the combination of various bio-resources with chemical fertilizers improved the rice production in sustainable way (Roy and Jha, 1987; Subba Rao, 1995; Mahapatra et al., 1997; Suresh et al., 2001).

Secondary nutrients

Secondary nutrients includes Calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. Crop plants requires secondary nutrients in moderate quantity for crop growth and yield. Their requirement by plant is less than the macro nutrients. Sulphur and Magnesium requirement of crops are very similar to the Phosphorus needs. Calcium is required in higher amount than Phosphorus. Calcium and magnesium are mostly deficient in acid and alkali soils. In India S deficiencies are found in almost 40 per cent of the cultivated soil. Under intensive cropping system, the use of higher amount of nitrogenous fertilizer without secondary and micro nutrients and lesser use of organic manures are the major reason for the secondary and micro nutrient deficiency in soil.

It is generally observed that N, P and Zn content in soil decreases with increasing soil salinity. Nutrient imbalances created by continuous use of chemical fertilizers, particularly nitrogenous fertilizer alone, combined with sub optimal rates of other nutrients or total omission of other nutrients are the primary causes for unsustainable yields of crops in saline soil. A sustainable approach for nutrient management in salt affected soils should therefore include balanced use of organic, inorganic and biological sources of nutrients (Bandyopadhyay and Rao, 2001). Organic amendments are known to facilitate the reclamation of sodic soils and better nutrition of crops (Anand swarup, 1992).

Experiments at Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Kamal, India showed that alkali soils are not always high in available P and rice and wheat significantly responded to addition of P (Pathak et al., 1975).

The availability of phosphorus in soil either native or added is limited by fixation and precipitation mechanisms. The organic acids released during decomposition of organic matter influences the soil pH, form stable complexes with cations responsible for P fixation and thus increases the availability (Tiwari et al., 1980).

The use of bulky organic manures (Maurya and Ghosh, 1972; Chaudhary et al., 1981) and green manures (Prabhakar et al., 1972; Sharma et al., 2000) has been found very beneficial for P management of saline and alkali soils as these improve the soil physical condition and the availability of soil phosphates.

Potassium availability in most of the coastal salt affected soils of India is rich except when the soils are low in clay content (Bandyopadhyay et al., 1985). Plants grown under high salinity may show K deficiency due to the antagonistic effect of Na on K absorption and / or disturbed Na / K ratio. Under such conditions application of K is also known to reduce the adverse effect of salinity and sodicity on crop growth (Qadar, 1995). Singh et al. (1980) reported that the addition of FYM increased the K concentration in the soil. Swarup (1987) reported that the incorporation of green manure increased the available N, P and K status of the soil. Available P and K remarkably increased to a tune of 30 and 44 per cent respectively by the application of coir waste (Santhi et al., 1991).

The uptake of Mg by rice plant was highest when fertilizer was applied in combination with vermicompost (Jadhav etal, 1997). Pattanayak etal. (2001) also reported the highest Ca uptake in the treatments that received green manuring of dhaincha. Sriramachandrasekharan (2001) who reported the highest Fe uptake of rice with green manuring of Sesbania aculeata.

Debele et al. (2001) reported that the application of FYM enriched with 10% rock phosphate + gypsum with PSB and PSF @ 500 g inoculums t^-1 of FYM increased the nutrient uptake of maize. The higher nutrient uptake of 227 kg N ha^-1, 59.5 kg P ha^-1 and 227 kg K ha^-1 recorded with the application of enriched FYM @ 2 t ha^-1.

Introduction

Several hazardous chemicals, microbes, and techniques like recombinant DNA technology are used for research and development work in research Institutes and universities. Therefore, the researchers, technical, helping and supporting staffs as well as the laboratory outputs must be kept free from contaminations. Thus, biosafety is necessary to prevent unintentional exposure/ release of hazardous chemicals, microbes/pathogens, and toxins to the laboratory staff and environment. Following the biosafety guidelines and ethical considerations are essential to maintain safety standards for the researchers as well as the environment. This chapter deals with various biosafety measures and ethical issues to be strictly followed while working in a research laboratory. The required safety level needs to be determined as per the chemical/biological materials are used in the laboratory to keep the researcher/environment safe for sustainable research and developmental activities.

Biosafety

The term biosafety is used to describe the procedure and policies needed to ensure environmental and personal safety. Biosafety refers to the containment principles, technologies and practices that are implemented to prevent unintentional exposure to pathogens, toxins, or their accidental release into the environment. A fundamental objective of any biosafety program is the containment of potentially harmful chemical/biological agents as precautionary safety measures.

Why Biosafety?

With the increasing number of countries adopting molecular biology tools and techniques in life science research and development activities, especially in the areas of agriculture and medicine, the biosafety issues are gaining importance to ensure biological safety for the public and the environment. Conducting research in safe and sustainable manner is not only a personal requirement but essential collective efforts to ensure biological safety for a clean and safe environment. This requires rules, regulations, monitoring bodies, and awareness among the workers as well as the public. Therefore, biosafety per se is an integral part of laboratory research and requires awareness among the researchers so that biological safety can be well taken care from the grassroot level.

The purpose of managing a fishery is to maintain the resource so that it is renewable and therefore sustainable. Responsible aquaculture practices rely on sustainable production systems, to minimize impacts on the natural environment, and support resource conservation. In other words, the harvest of fish from the wild or their domestic culture, if performed with sound foundations of ecological and economic principles, can be sustainable and self-reliant commercial industry. In traditional subsistence fisheries, fishermen use primitive and inefficient gear to capture most ornamental fish. However, the supply of aquarium fish is not inexhaustible, and signs of over-fishing are becoming apparent in localized areas. With high demand and pricing of many beautiful species, ornamental fish are being harvested at greater volumes and higher rates, threatening the viability or sustainability of the fishery. Most endemic and sensitive species are restricted to very narrow specific habitats. Their survival, affected by physical over-exploitation for the aquarium trade, may be further hit by habitat alteration. No comprehensive studies have been carried out on the requirements of these endemic or sensitive exported species. In the absence of suitable impact studies, it is not possible to predict the impact of habitat alteration on these species. Exporters target more colorful varieties and since their ecological significance has not been studied, what long-term effect such selective exploitation will have on genetic diversity cannot yet be defined.

Apart from legislation that can be effectively implemented, eco-physiological and population studies of a quantitative nature are urgently needed to advise on the collection, maintenance and transport conditions that need to be followed by exporters to safeguard collected stocks from unnecessary mortality. Exporters are eager to learn and would be receptive to receiving appropriate, scientifically formulated, well-meaning practical advice. Studies should be targeted towards this end since it seems unlikely that the export trade can at present be voluntarily modulated on the basis of conservation requirements. Such a strategy could only become feasible after an adequately robust ecological database has been compiled, which would necessarily require time.

An effective management strategy needs to address not only aquarium-trade related matters but also policy and other matters in an integrated approach if we are to be hopeful of sustaining the ornamental fish industry in the long-term.

Words like rDNA (recombinant DNA) technology, cloning, genetically modified organism (GMO), living modified organism (LMO) and transgenics are of today’s common knowledge. However rather than scientific interest, debates on biosafety issues have made these terms more agnized among general people. Global, sectorial and individual protests against transgenic plants and animals are enunciated allover the world raising issues and concerns over risks and health hazards of using these organisms. Despite these protests and concerns, commercial use of transgenic organism as food, feed or other purposes are increasing at an exponential rate. Although there is not much scientific evidence where transgenics have caused havocs on ecological balance or human health, the biosafety issues need to be solved to provide a safer environment rather than be sorry and lament in the future for today’s mistakes. One of the major problems in supporting use of GMOs lies in the incapability of biosafety science to draw reliable and widely acceptable conclusions for labeling a safe tag on these organisms and their derivatives.

• General considerations

 • Biosafety levels-1 and -2

 • Biosafety level-3

 • Biosafety level-4

General Considerations

Biosafety is a combination of laboratory practices, techniques, equipments and other facilities appropriate for the protection of hazards posed by infectious agents handled in the laboratory. There are guidelines for maintaining the biosafety in laboratory at various levels described as under:

Precautions to be taken while working in the laboratory for personal safety and to prevent any hazards.
    1.    Be vaccinated against dangerous viruses viz., rabies and hepatitis B as persons can contract infection while working with these organisms.
    2.    Use eye protection viz., goggles, spectacles etc to avoid splashing microbes into the eyes. 
    3.    Do not rub eyes with contaminated hands or objects.
    4.    Do not eat or drink anything in the microbiology laboratory as it will contaminate the laboratory.

Introduction
 
Nanotoxicity is a serious concern to be addressed sooner than later as nano-based processes and products in various fields are being extensively exploited. Nanotoxicology is the science of engineered nanodevices and nanostructures that deals with their effects in living organisms (Oberdorster et al., 2005). The unique property of nanoparticles is in its very large surface area to mass ratio, which is considered to be a boon to create novel products. But this distinctive property also challenges the way we identify, understand and address potential risks caused by nanoparticles (Rajkishore et al., 2011). It is sufficient to alert us to the fact that some engineered nanoparticles do indeed behave differently to their more conventional counterparts and may present new and unusual risks. Kahru and Dubourguier (2010) assessed the existing literature on nanotoxicity to main food chain levels (bacteria, algae, crustaceans, ciliates, fish, yeasts and nematodes) and classified the NPs of Ag and ZnO as “extremely toxic”, C60 fullerenes and CuO NP as “very toxic”, SWCNTs and MWCNTs as “toxic” and TiO₂ NP as “harmful”. 

Biotechnology has the potential to revolutionize many aspects in our lives, from healthcare to agriculture. However, along with its benefits, it also poses significant risks to human health, environment, and ecology. Therefore, it is essential to establish biosafety regulations and risk assessment frameworks to promote safe and responsible use of biotechnology. This chapter compiled an overview of biotechnology, the importance of biosafety regulations and risk assessment, IPR protection, contaminants, risk analysis, risk management in laboratories and fields, biosafety concerns to human health, environment and ecology, biosafety at international and national levels, bioethics, and general principles.

Overview of Biotechnology and its Potential Benefits and Risks

Biotechnology refers to the use of living organisms or their components to develop products and processes for various fields such as healthcare, agriculture, and environmental remediation. Biotechnology applications include genetic engineering, bioremediation, biopharmaceuticals, and biobased products.

13.1 Biosafety

Biosafety is the prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health. These prevention mechanisms include conduction of regular reviews of the biosafety in laboratory settings, as well as strict guidelines to follow. Biosafety is used to protect from harmful incidents. Many laboratories handling biohazards employ an ongoing risk management assessment and enforcement process for biosafety. Failures to follow such protocols can lead to increased risk of exposure to biohazards or pathogens. Human error and poor technique contribute to unnecessary exposure and compromise the best safeguards set into place for protection. The international Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety deals primarily with the agricultural definition but many advocacy groups seek to expand it to include post-genetic threats: new molecules, artificial life forms, and even robots which may compete directly in the natural food chain.

Introduction

Biosecurity includes a set of standard scientific measures, adopted to exclude pathogens from culture environments and hosts and, more broadly, limit the establishment and spread of pathogens” (Mohan et al., 2003; Moss et al., 2012). Biosecurity is an emerging concept, and the phrase is changing as usage differs across nations and among different professional groups. A holistic approach to addressing biological risks associated with food and agriculture is what is widely referred to as "biosecurity.

Biosecurity means protection against infectious biological agents. These agents include bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, parasites, and any other agents capable of introducing infectious diseases into a poultry flock. Biosecurity therefore means maintaining a flock, poultry house or premises in such a way that infectious agents do not have a chance to enter to cause diseases. The biosecurity may be categorized into three: Conceptual biosecurity, Structural biosecurity and operational Biosecurity.

Importance of Biosecurity

In modern poultry production, birds are reared under intensive system where large numbers are concentrated in small area. As a result, when an infectious agent enters a poultry house, there is probability for widespread dissemination if it is not contained. Besides, the broiler and egg industry of today is under increasing consumer and regulatory pressures to guarantee food safety and meet export requirements. As a result, broiler and layer operations around the world require the supply of breeding stock free of salmonellas specific to avian species (such as S. pullorum and S. gallinarum) and those that could cause outbreaks of human food-borne illness. Inadequate biosecurity can contribute to wide epidemics of highly pathogenic or exotic diseases. An infection by a virulent organism within a facility can be devastating, reducing without overt signs of disease. Once contaminated with pathogens, poultry facilities are extremely difficult and expensive to clean, sanitize and disinfect. Prevention of disease is always less expensive than treatment. The cost of implementing biosecurity system is smaller when compared to financial profit that can be made from production. Good biosecurity is therefore vital requirement in the best possible control of disease.

Abstract

The use of biosensors is growing in the food industry as a means to ensure food safety and quality because of its versatility in determining biological compounds. It is defined as analytical technique used for detection of analyte that combines a biological component with a physico-chemical detector. The most important contribution of biosensors in the food sectors is to control production processes and ensure food quality and safety by reliable, fast and cost effective procedures. Biosensors have been useful for the evaluation of food composition, particularly in functional food products fortified with phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals.. Biosensors are replacing conventional analytical tools since they offer advantages in size, cost, specificity, rapid response, precision and sensitivity. Future progress in the biosensor technology involves the development of nutraceutical release technology within packaging material where it can be used to trigger the controllable release of bioactive components and targeted delivery of protective agents into the food product. The growing consumer demands for safe and quality food has led the food industries to search for quick and reliable methods for which the applications of the biosensor technique in the field of food processing and quality control are found to be promising.

Introduction

Biosensor technology is a powerful alternative to conventional analytical techniques, harnessing the specificity and sensitivity of biological systems in small, low cost devices. Despite the promising biosensors developed in research laboratories, there are not many reports of applications in agricultural monitoring. The authors review biosensor technology and discuss the different bio-receptor systems and methods of transduction. The difference between a biosensor and a truly integrated biosensor system are defined and the main reasons for the slow technology transfer of biosensors to the market place are reported. Biosensor research and development has been directed mainly towards health care, environmental applications and the food industry. The most commercially important application is the hand-held glucose meter used by diabetics. The agricultural / veterinary testing market has seen a number of diagnostic tests but no true biosensor systems have made an impact.

Introduction

The food that we consume should not only contain all essential nutrients like carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, fibre etc but also should be hygienic and safe. Safety and quality of food is to be ensured not only during food production but also should be continuously monitored till it reaches the consumer (Coles and Frewer, 2013). The characteristics of food are altered during every processing operations viz., cleaning, sorting, transportation, thermal processing, packaging, storage, distribution etc which may be desirable or undesirable. Persistent physical, chemical and microbiological analyses have to be done at all levels of supply chain to ensure the quality of food. Traditional methods of food safety analysis are spectrophotometry, aerobic plate count method, microscopic plate count, titrations, chromatography etc. Though these techniques provide accurate results, the analysis demand cumbersome extraction steps, trained technical staff and are time consuming (Di-Natale et al., 2000). Hence, steady, sensitive and rapid monitoring of food analysis technique is a need of the hour in the present era. Biosensors can effectively replace the conventional techniques owing to its reliability, rapidity, economic and field applicability (Prasad et al., 2014). Biosensors are an attractive diagnostic alternative owing to their in situ detection ability and comparatively reduced detection time from several days to hours, or even minutes (Ruiz et al., 2017). Rapid food analysis can also minimise spoilage, especially in freshly harvested agricultural commodities, such as fruits and vegetables, meat, fish etc. In addition, the portable detection devices provide in-situ detection capabilities without extensive training and assist in integrating real time analysis in food processing centres.

16.1 Introduction

Food safety is most important issue in today's global environment. To safeguard food supply is a very difficult and challenging responsibility, as a consequence of which the world's largest food companies, retailers, and manufacturers have placed very high food safety standards. Although the safety of food has improved exponentially but progress is uneven and food borne outbreaks due to microbial contamination, pesticides, antibiotics chemicals and toxins are common in many countries. International trade statistics (2007) by World Trade Organization (WTO) reported that Europe has accounted for 46% of world exports of agricultural products, where food represents 80% of agricultural exports. The trading of contaminated food among countries increases the risk for outbreaks and consequently, health risks due to microbial pathogens in food are of major concern to all governments.

Biosensors are an important option in the agricultural and food sectors to control production processes and ensure food quality and safety by dependable, fast and cost effective methods. Biosensors have plenty of advantages over conventional analytical tools since they offer advantages in size, cost, inherent specificity, selectivity, rapid response, accuracy and sensitivity. Food microbiologists are always in search of rapid and reliable automated systems for the detection of biological activity. Biosensors provide sensitive, miniaturized systems that can be used to detect unwanted microbial activity or the presence of a biologically active compound, such as glucose or a pesticide. Immunodiagnostics and enzyme biosensors are two of the leading technologies that have had the greatest impact on the food industry. The use of these two systems has reduced the time for detection of pathogens such as Salmonella to 24 hour and has provided detection of biological compounds such as cholesterol or chymotrypsin. The another useful application for biosensors, is detection of genetically modified organisms (GMO), since several countries have laws regulating the commercialization of GMO products and their derivatives. Biosensors are also useful in the implementation of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) plans by verifying process developments and correcting errors in due time. There is joint application of Biosensor technologies and nanotechnologies in many food and agricultural applications such as the development of nano-scale tools for biosafety, nanoscale compounds for food packaging, and nano-sensors for pathogen detection in animals and plants. These are helpful tools in the detection and control of potential food contaminants by the agricultural and food industries.

Bioshields offer barriers of vegetation, shrubs, small and big trees and if integrated as a well designed system they can greatly help our coastal as well as inland areas. Though primarily looked at for coastal regions, under a broader definition Bioshields can play important role in semi-desert areas, hills, etc. also.

Why Bioshield?

Bioshields or Biobarriers can make a major contribution in minimizing the effects of storms, cyclones and Tsunamis and at the same time offer short and long term ecological and livelihood benefits.

Abstract

Soil microorganisms play a major role in the biodissolution of nutrients bound in the soil silicate minerals. Plant nutrients like K, P, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Mn are bound in them. Silicon is considered as agronomically important as it confers rigidity and strength to crop plants and enhances yield. Biodissolution of these nutrients result in their availability to crops influencing the growth, biomass and yield. The microbial metabolites like organic acids, amino acids, inorganic acids, amines, ammonia, phenolic compounds, extracellular polysaccharides, siderophores, ligands of cations and cation exchange are involved in the biodissolution of K, Zn and Si. Frateuria aurantia, Bacillus mucilaginosus and B. edaphicus and Bacillus sp are recognized as potash mobilizers, silica and zinc solubilizers.

Abstract

Contamination of environment with heavy metals has become a serious global problem due to its threat to animal and human health. Removal of this non-biodegradable, hazardous heavy metals through bio-materials has received paramount interest and intense attention in the last few decades as bio-materials play crucial role in remediating heavy metal polluted environment through a process called “biosorption”. The term biosorption, therefore, has become a popular theme in recent years due to its relatively simple, inexpensive, eco-friendly with rapid mechanism of removing heavy metals from polluted environment. There have been burgeoning studies around the globe for alleviating the problem of heavy metal pollution by selecting and developing an effective bio-sorbent with minimum treatment process for field application. This review aims to provide vast information on types of biosorbent available, their exploitation for better efficiency and their economic attractiveness for the restoration of heavy metal polluted environment.

15.1 Introduction

Statistics is mostly used as a tool for assessing the capability of the system. Statistics refers to facts shown in numbers. Modern statistical methods and data are being found increasingly useful in research in different fields such as hydrology, biology, water quality and forestry etc. Statistics when used effectively becomes so intertwined in the whole fabric of the subjects to which it is applied. Statistics assists in planning the initial observations, organizing them and formulating hypothesis from them and in judging whether the new observations agree sufficiently well with the predictions from the hypothesis. In statistical methods, there is an operation of multiple causes and the investigator has only limited control over there. But statistical methods are found extremely useful in predicting the consequences of a situation. It requires skill for acquiring and handling data. There is a methodology to deal with the data and analysis of data is based on scientific and engineering strategies (Ramakrishnan, 1995).

In a huge rainfall data over a period of 300 years, it is not possible to observe all the items. Statistical methods are developed to estimate the error or deflection from the true or real value when we are taking inference from a sample for a hydrological data.

In the modern world where life sciences is getting more and more importance. To meet our environmental problems and energy requirements due to rapid industrialization and population growth, scop of life science has taken its new shape. Based on statistical analysis, new field like environmental sciences, hydrology, genetic engineering, biotechnology and biosociology have been evolved. Experiments about crop yields with different types of fertilizers and different types of soils or the growth of animal life and plant life under different environmental conditions and diets are very often designed and analyzed according to statistical method. Even in the field of medicine and public health, statistical methods are used for testing the efficacy of new medicine and method of treatments. As a matter of fact, for a research worker in any field, which is concern with numerical results, a study of statistical method is not only useful but also necessary. Hence it can be rightly by remarked “Science without statistics bears no fruit, statistics without science have no root”.

. Introduction

A primary issue for modern horticulture is facing two contradictory objectives, such as the need to produce food for the increasing world population and to minimize damage to the environment, which can in turn negatively impact horticulture. Fertilizer and chemical use and manufacture are hazardous to the environment and humans. As a result, new and effective environmentally friendly compounds are required. Plant biostimulants, which are harmless for humans and the environment, are one answer. They are particularly useful for lowering pesticides in agriculture. Plant biostimulants have become popular in farming and cultivation in recent years.

13.1 Introduction

A surfactant or surface-active agents are the compounds that lower the surface tension between the two liquids or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents and dispersants. Surfactants are normally organic compounds that are amphiphilic, meaning they contain both hydrophobic groups or hydrophilic groups. Therefore a surfactant contains both a water insoluble component and a water soluble component. Surfactant will diffuse in water and adsorb at interfaces.

The interfacial free energy is the minimum amount of work required to create that interface and the interfacial tension between two phases is determined as the interfacial free energy per unit area. The interfacial (or surface) tension is also a measure of the variance in nature of the two phases meeting at the interface (or surface). The greater the dissimilarity in their natures, the greater the interfacial (or surface) tension between them. A surfactant is therefore a substance that changes the amount of work required to expand those interfaces. Surfactants usually act to reduce interfacial free energy.

Surface active agents in the form of emulsifiers have a long history of use and are widely used in many products being used in everyday life. An extensive basic research is required to understand the reason of instability and methods to prevent the breakdown of emulsions. Emulsifiers can function as dough conditioners by improving tolerance to variations in flour quality, better gas retention resulting in lesser yeast requirements, increased uniformity in cell size, a finer grain, more resilient texture and improved slicing. Also, the characteristics of freshly baked bread like soft crumb can be retained longer, if the appropriate emulsifiers are added. Commonly used surface active agents in bread production are propylene glycol mono- and diesters, polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, succinylated monoglycerides and Diacetyl tartaric acid, esters of monoglycerides. Cookie characteristics like top grain, volume and spread ratio can also be improved. Here surfactants used are sodium stearoyl fumarate, sucrose fatty acid esters, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sorbitan fatty acid esters, polysorbates and ethoxylated monoglycerides. In dairy products like Ice cream surface active agents play some important functions like to improve fat dispersion and control fat agglomeration, facilitation of fat– protein interactions, facilitate air incorporation, give smoother texture due to smaller ice crystals and air cells, increase resistance to shrinkage, improve melt-down and reduce whipping time. In candy products, the elimination of “bloom,’’ i.e., the transition of fat crystals is a key reason for the addition of surface active agents. In mixtures of triglycerides, surfactants like sorbitan esters (Spans) and ethoxylated sorbitan esters (Tweens) can control product viscosity in chocolates and in cream fillings and modify the crystal structure. Surface active agents have been utilized in the production of meat analog products also. In margarine, Emulsifiers fulfil several functions like modification of crystal structure in the vegetable fat, assistance in emulsion formation and antispattering. Here, a mixture of citric acid monoglycerides and monoglycerides or lecithin can be used. The properties and mode of action of these chemical surfactants is discussed in the following sections.

ABSTRACT

The use of engineered nano-materials has been increased as a result of their positive impact on many sectors of the economy including agriculture. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are now used to enhance seed germination, plant growth and as anti-microbial agents to control plant diseases. This study investigated the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the aqueous solution of three medicinally important plants (such as Spondius mombin L., Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (L.) Vahl and Syzygium samarangense (Blume) Merr & Perry leaf extract in room temperature (350C). AgNPs present in the leaf confirmed by colour change, UV-VIS spectrum analysis, average size of AgNPs confirmed by PAS. FTIR measurement were carried out to identify the other possible biomolecule groups such as alkenes, esters, phenols, alcohols and aromatic. Leaf extract AgNPs were shown significantly higher antimicrobial activities against four species of bacteria. This findings suggest that the seed germination percentage, relative seed germination rate, relative shoot and root growth and germination index of the tested plant depends upon concentrate gradient of AgNPs.

ABSTRACT

Recognizing the need to apply plant tissue culture tools for generating planting materials of important spice crops especially vanilla, the Spices Board started Biotech Production Unit at its head quarters building at Kochi with an annual production potential of 8 lakhs plantlets. Complete tissue culture protocols were developed and scaled up for large scale production of vanilla and other spices viz. large cardamom, small cardamom and tree spices. The laboratory is equipped with all modern facilities and is established in an area of about 2000 sft. Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India also participated in the venture by sanctioning a project entitled “Regional centre for large scale production of tissue culture plantlets of vanilla and other spices” with a financial out lay of Rs 95 lakhs equally shared by DBT, New Delhi and Spices Board, Cochin.

At present there is a stock of over 3.00 lakh vanilla cultures in the lab and already 1.25 lakh plant lets were sent for hardening. The Spices Board, in coll aboration with “Kudumbashree”, a poverty eradication mission of Govt. of Kerala, extend short term training in tissue culture techniques to undergraduates from ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) families and engage them as long term trainees in the Biotech Production Unit. The Board also coordinates and extends support to Kudumbashree members for, establishing and maintaining hardening facilities for TC plantlets thus providing means for empowering women from BPL families.

Tissue culture consists of growing plants cells as relatively on organized masses of cells on an agar medium (callus culture) or as a suspension of free cells and small cell masses in a liquid medium (suspension culture). In other words, In plant cell culture, plant tissues and organs are developed in vitro on artificial media, under aseptic and controlled environment. The procedure depends mainly on the concept of totipotentiality of plant cells (Haberlandt, 1902) which refers to the ability of a single cell to express the full genome by cell division.

Summary

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which have the potential to divide and multiply indefinitely and can be differentiated to any type of cell of the body of an organism. Due to its peculiar characteristics stem cells are being experimentally used to cure certain dreaded diseases of the humans including different haemoglobinopathies. The stem cells isolated from bone marrow have been cultured, modified and differentiated to get various blood cells like erythrocytes, leukocytes, and thrombocytes etc. Recently haematopoietic stem cells have been transplanted to the sickle cell and beta thalassaemia patients successfully. Gene therapy using the embryonic and cord blood stem cells have been experimentally tried successfully to cure transgenic sickle as well as thalassaemic mice. Induced Pluripotent stem cells (iPS) generated from autologous skin has also been used successfully for treatment of transgenic sickle cell anaemia mouse.

Abstract

Anaerobic microorganisms occur in oxygen-free environments as they possess biomolecules and metabolic processes that have adapted to sustain them in the stressed environments. These biomolecules and metabolic processes are harnessed and employed in various biotechnological applications. Anaerobes are abundant in various ecological niches such as freshwater or marine sediments, subsurface aquifers, deep thermal vents etc. where, in the absence or limitation of oxygen, they utilise reduced ions such as nitrate, sulphate, ferric, carbonate and certain organic compounds like degrading organic matter, fatty acids or alcohols as electron acceptors during respiration/fermentation to produce more or fewer reduced products such as, alcohols, ammonia, organic acids, hydrogen and carbon dioxide as the oxidised product. Diversity of substrates that can be fermented and the wide range of products that can be formed make anaerobic processes useful in biotechnological applications. Their substrate versatility and flexibility, for example, they can utilize simple sugars as well as many of them can utilise complex renewable biomass make their biotechnological applications sustainable and environment friendly. Anaerobes have been employed in food, chemical and material industries for the production of food items, preservative, additives, chemical intermediates, solvents, catalysts and polymers. They find widespread usage in energy sector for generation of various kinds of biofuels that can mitigate our reliance on non-renewable sources for fuel production. An emerging aspect of anaerobic biotechnology is waste valorization that involves treatment of any kind of waste (industrial, municipal, agricultural, pharmaceutical), where organic fraction of the waste is converted into valuable products. Anaerobes play key role in maintaining the global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur, and also facilitate bioremediation by breakdown of persistent compounds. Lately, role of anaerobes in medicine and health care sector is widely explored as they are found to produce several bacteriocins, antibiotics, immunomodulators, vitamins and anti-tumor compounds. Some of the anaerobes have also been employed as probiotics. In the present chapter, we discussed these and many more biotechnological applications of anaerobes in white, green, red and blue biotechnology.

Role of Biotechnological Approaches

In our fore-going chapters, we have studied variety of plant products such as alkaloids, glycosides, volatile or essential oils, gums and mucilage and oleoresins with varied role to play to the plants as well as to human.Knowledge of plants and knowledge of healing have been closely linked. It is well established that industries have many direct and indirect effects on human population. Increased stress is most evident at the same time health awareness goes parallel in the recent times. Most of the natural plant products are compounds biosynthetically derived from primary metabolites such as amino acids, carbohydrate metabolic intermediates and fatty acids. These secondary metabolites are the major sources of pharmaceuticals, food additives, fragrance and pesticides.

Application of biotechnology know how helps to synthesize the novel molecules and also could be beneficial to enhance the production of secondary metabolites. Classical definition of biotechnology states that it is “The use of living organisms or their products to enhance our lives and our environment.” The word Pharming is commonly use to describe genetically engineered plants or livestock to produce medically useful products –predominantly protein drugs. Plants or animals are genetically engineered to contain genes capable of producing a biologic or drug compound. Therapeutic proteins are designed to treat illness includes serum proteins, cytokines, growth regulators, anti coagulants, antbiotics, lysosomal enzymes and plant secondary metabolites.

Abstract

Biotechnology offers an opportunity to exploit the cell, tissue, organ or entire organism by growing them in vitro and to genetically manipulate them to obtain desired compounds. It plays a pivotal role in search for alternatives to production of desirable biomedical compounds. There are several approaches have been used to increase the yield of metabolites from cell cultures such as manipulation of nutrient medium, application of exogenous growth stimulators, chemical treatment, precursor feeding, elicitation, transformed cultures, metabolic engineering, micropropagation, bioreactor cultures and etc.