eChapters

4.1 Introduction

More and more industrial applications require self cleaned surfaces, water repellent, anti-dirt pickup and many other specific surface requirements. Introduction of nanotechnology has changed the coating scenario drastically. Hard, anti-scratch, hydrophobic coatings are achieved by the addition of small amounts of nano-pigments which help in creating hydrophobic surface. It is also possible to grow certain nano-fibers which on chemical treatment give surfaces which can either attract water or repel it. It is also possible now to create self healing coatings which can repair surface once they are damaged by scratch. Capacitance coupler pads have been devised to reach those corroding areas which are not covered by other corrosion protection methods. Stringent requirements of many modern industrial application resulted in developing coatings which can give special surface properties such as high hardness, scratch resistance, hydrophobicity, anti-dirt pickup etc.  This brief article presents a few new researches which provide one or more special properties to the surface.

In recent years the importance of VAM fungi for plant growth in most soils has been accepted and acknowledged by soil chemists, agronomists, horticulturists and farmers. Ever since it was shown that VAM could increase nutrient uptake and water uptake from soil in plants, researchers have been trying to extend and manipulate this effect of mycorrhiza in improving the growth and productivity in various groups of plants. Mycorrhizasts of the country have also explored the possibility of utilizing this tool for improving the performance of various crops including cereals, millets, pulses, vegetables, oilseeds and fruit crops. In addition, they have tried to explore the possibility of utilizing this biotool also for improving the growth of various types of trees including forest trees. Following account is related to the work done by the mycorrhizasts of the country on the effect of VA mycorrhiza on the growth and productivity of various groups of plants including cultivated crops.

Abstract

Microbial inoculants are low cost inputs with high benefits in agriculture. Solid carrier based (peat or lignite) inoculants are used in most tropical countries. The carrier based inoculants have short shelf life, are liable to have high contaminants and have shown inconsistent field performance. In recent years, special liquid formulations containing not only the desired microorganisms and their nutrients but also added cell protectants or chemicals that promote formation of resting spores or cysts have been developed. The liquid formulations have longer shelf-life (12 months at room temperature) and are also more tolerant to adverse conditions encountered in storage. Liquid Rhizobium biofertilizers enhanced the soybean crop yields in the United States of America, Brazil, Europe and Asia over carrier based inoculants.

Water is indispensable for human, animal and plant life. It is a major component of all organisms some of which contain more than 90% of water. Water is a constituent of protoplasm. It maintains turgidity of cells which is essential for stomatal opening, expansion of cells and for different physiological processes. Water is also required for translocation of nutrients and dissipation of heat.

16.1 Irrigation

Irrigation is generally defined as the artificial application of water to soil for the purpose of supplying the moisture essential for plant growth.

However, a broader and more inclusive definition of the term irrigation is the application of water to the soil for any number of the following six purposes —

1. To add water to soil to supply the moisture essential for plant growth.
2. To provide crop insurance against short duration drought.
3. To cool the soil and atmosphere, thereby making more favourable environment for crop growth.
4. To wash out or dilute salts in the soil.

Introduction

Proper electrical wiring and earthing are crucial for laboratory safety and functionality. A laboratory houses several installations/equipment that demand stable/continuous power supply. Inappropriate or faulty wiring and earthing may lead to significant risks, including electrical shocks, damage to equipment, and even incidence of fire. Therefore, understanding the requirements of electrical wiring and earthing is essential for designing, construction, and maintenance of laboratory. This chapter aims to provide a basic knowledge of electrical wiring and earthing necessary for a laboratory. Importance of earthing in mitigating electrical hazards and ensuring integrity of electrical installations are also described.

Basics of Electrical Wiring

Basic understanding of electrical wiring is necessary for laboratory safety and efficient electrical functioning. The potential difference between two electrical points (negative and positive) is known as Voltage, which drives the flow of electric current. This is measured as volt (V). The rate of flow of electricity in a circuit is known as Current (I), which is measured as ampere (A). Current can be either direct (DC) or alternating (AC). Opposition/resistance experienced in the flow of current in circuit is known as Resistance (R) and it is measured in ohms (Ω). Higher the resistance means lesser the current flows at a given voltage. The rate at which electrical energy is transferred/utilized in an electric circuit is known as Power (P), which is measured in watt (W). The Power can be calculated as the product of voltage and current (P = V × I).

Introduction

Clean and renewable energy is a basic requirement for developmental activities. Global energy crisis is caused by increasing world population, escalating demand due to urbanisation, and continued dependence on fossil-based fuels. Non-renewable energy sources like coal, natural gas oil contribute 79 per cent of world electricity generation; only 21 per cent comes from renewable energy sources. Promoting the use of existing renewable energy sources and identifying new environment-friendly technology is gaining importance. Switching to renewable energy sources like wind energy, ocean energy and solar energy is gaining a lot of importance. These green technologies emit less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and hence are pollution free and immensely available. Recently, investigators have identified plants as weak energy sources. Plants are versatile organisms capable of communicating with each other with a number of signaling mechanisms. It was observed that plants generate electronic signals inside their system. The concept of utilising electronic signals for studying various physiological plant processes was first put forth by Sir Acharya J. C. Bose, an eminent biophysicist, botanist, archaeologist and polymath from India (Fromm and Lautner, 2007). His ideologies and concepts of movements of plants laid the foundation for modern electrophysiology-a branch of physiology that deals with electrical phenomena associated with metabolic functions. Attempts have been made to harvest electricity from free electrons available in plant leaves produced during photosynthesis and from rhizosphere of plants formed as a result of bacterial activity. Currently, a lot of attention is being given to improvise and develop this technology. To proceed forward in this direction, it is very critical to understand the mechanism of electrical signaling in plants.

Principle

To retrieve and purify any specific DNA fragment from an agarose gel slice; the expected yield is from 50-75% of the amount in the gel slice.

Time required

Restriction digest - minimum of 2 hours

Electrophoresis - approx. 4 hours

Elution - 2-5 hours depending on fragment size

DNA Purification -2 hours

Introduction

Gel electrophoresis is a technique for separating charged molecules with different sizes. Two kinds of gels are commonly used: agarose and polyacrylamide. Agarose gels can be applied to a wider range of sizes than polyacrylamide gels.  By using standard agarose electrophoresis, nuclei acids up to 50 kb may be separated. If Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis is used, the upper limit can be extended to 10 Mb. Polyacrylamide gels may separate nucleic acids that differ in length by only 1 nucleotide if their length is less than 500 bp (Sambrook et al., 1989).

Principle

The principle of Electrophoresis involves the motion of a particle in a fluid medium, where the gravitational attraction (on a flowing liquid) is the sedimenting force, and the frictional force is the opposing force and is proportional to the velocity of the particle. These forces balance each other acting in opposite directions and hence balance each other. This will lead to the uniform motion of the particle in the mobile liquid medium (i.e. the particle moves at constant velocity). In case the external field is an electric field instead of a gravitational field, a macromolecule will respond to the external field in two ways. In case the molecule is charged, it will migrate in an electric field to the electrode of opposite charge. Under this principle the technique of electrophoresis functions.

All electrophoresis operations are governed by the principle:

Electrophoresis is an analytical method frequently used in molecular biology and medicine. It is applied for the separation and characterization of proteins, nucleic acids and subcellular-sized particles like viruses and small organelles. Its principle is that the charged particles of a sample migrate in an applied electrical field. An electric current is passed through a medium containing the molecules, and each molecule travels at a different rate depending on its electrical charge, size and shape. Separation by electrophoresis is based on these differences. In electrophoresis, agarose and acrylamide gels are used for electrophoresis of nucleic acids and proteins.

What is Gel Electrophoresis?

A gel is a solid form. The term electrophoresis describes the migration of charged particle under the influence of an electric field. Electro refers to the energy of electricity. Phoresis, from the Greek verb phoros, means “to carry across.” Thus, gel electrophoresis refers to the technique in which molecules are forced across a span of gel, motivated by an electrical current. Activated electrodes at either end of the gel provide the driving force. A molecule’s properties determine how rapidly an electric field can move the molecule through a gelatinous medium.

Electrophoresis is a method of separating out large molecule ( DNA or protein). An electric current is passed through a medium containing the molecules, and each molecule travels at a different rate depending on its electrical charge, size and shape. Separation by electrophoresis is based on these differences. In electrophoresis, agarose and acrylamide gels are used for electrophoresis of nucleic acids and proteins.

What is Gel Electrophoresis?

A gel is a solid form. The term electrophoresis describes the migration of charged particle under the influence of an electric field. Electro refers to the energy of electricity. Phoresis, from the Greek verb phoros, means “to carry across.” Thus, gel electrophoresis refers to the technique in which molecules are forced across a span of gel, motivated by an electrical current. Activated electrodes at either end of the gel provide the driving force. A molecule’s properties determine how rapidly an electric field can move the molecule through a gelatinous medium.

Electrophoresis is an important separation technique for the charged molecules. Biologically important molecules, such as amino acids, peptides, proteins nucleotides, nucleic acids which carry electrical charge as they possess certain ionizable functional groups may be separated and identified from a mixture with the help of this technique. Some compounds that are non-polar in nature and do not possess any charge may be transformed to charge carrying derivatives. Thus, phosphate derivatives of carbohydrates may be separated and characterized utilizing electrophoretic techniques.

Technology Scouting and Innovations in Technology Incubation
Technology scouting and innovations in technology incubation have a symbiotic relationship, fuelling each other for the benefit of budding startups and the broader technology ecosystem. Let’s dive deeper into their individual roles and how they interact:
Technology Scouting
Technology Scouting is the process of discovering, analyzing and evaluating new or existing technologies that will help them with their innovation process. In simple terms, it is a process for companies to find the necessary technology outside the company.
Hunting for promising technologies: Scouts actively search for emerging technologies, patents, research advancements, and market trends across various sectors.
Evaluating potential and fit: They assess the technical feasibility, market potential, and compatibility with the needs of incubators and their supported startups.
Connecting innovators and ventures: Scouts bridge the gap between technology creators (researchers, inventors, startups) and potential users (incubators, established companies).
Fuelling innovation pipelines: Technology scouting helps incubators access a wider range of technologies and ideas, enriching their portfolio and diversifying the innovations supported.

Pest resurgence is defined as the rapid reappearance of a pest population in injurious numbers following pesticide application. Use of persistent and broad spectrum pesticides that kills the beneficial natural enemies is thought to be the leading cause of pest resurgence. However, resurgence is known to occur due to several reasons, for instance, increase in feeding and reproductive rates of insect pests, due to application of sub lethal doses of pesticides and sometimes elimination of a primary pest provides favorable conditions for the secondary pest to become primary pests (Harsh Garg, 2014). There are several pesticide induced pest outbreaks reported in walnut, hemlock, cotton and soybean. Among these, brown plant hopper in rice cultivation has gained a major importance in Asian countries. In general, natural BPH populations were kept under check by natural enemies including mired bugs, ladybird beetles, spiders and other pathogens. Pesticides, however, not only have destroyed the natural enemies, but have influenced the fecun

Introduction

Fruits are important sources of vitamins, carbohydrates, fiber and sugar. A large variety of fruits are grown in India, of which mango, banana, citrus, guava, grape, pineapple and apple are the major ones. In India, grapes occupies fifth position amongst fruit crops with a production of 16.77 million tonnes from an area of 0.64 million ha (FAO, 2009). The total grape export from India during the year 2007-08 was 96,723 tonnes worth Rs 317.84 crores. (APEDA, 2009). Grape is an excellent source of many nutrients and phytochemicals, able to contribute to a healthy diet. Grapefruit is a good source of vitamin C and pectin fiber. The major varieties of grapes grown in India are Thomson seedless, Sonaka, Anab-e-Shahi, Perlette, Banglore blue, Pusa seedless, Beauty seedless etc. (NRCG, 2009). Red grapes are grown in large quantities, especially for wine and juice production. Grapes are used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, grape seed oil and some kinds of candy.

ALL MATTER IS IN MOTION

Everything moves:

In the atom electrons rotate around the nucleus

In gases, liquids and even solids molecules move away from other molecules

An accumulation of matter (i.e., a baseball) can move as a unit

The average velocity of movement is the distance travelled divided by the time

Bodies in motion have energy; the faster the velocity the more energy

Nano-bioinoculants represent a novel class of agricultural inputs that integrate beneficial microorganisms with nanotechnology-based delivery systems to enhance microbial stability, nutrient efficiency, and plant performance. While these formulations offer promising solutions for sustainable agriculture, their environmental implications require careful evaluation due to the inclusion of engineered nanomaterials. This chapter critically examines the environmental impact of nano-bioinoculants, focusing on their interactions with soil, water, air, plants, and higher trophic levels. The mechanisms governing nanoparticle behavior in soil matrices, effects on indigenous microbial communities, potential for bioaccumulation and trophic transfer, and risks of aquatic and atmospheric contamination are discussed. Positive environmental outcomes, including reduced dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, improved soil health, enhanced nutrient use efficiency, and increased plant resilience to abiotic stresses, are highlighted alongside potential risks such as microbial disruption, nanoparticle persistence, oxidative stress induction, and long-term ecological uncertainty. The chapter further addresses human health considerations, risk assessment frameworks, ecotoxicological testing approaches, and existing regulatory gaps at national and international levels. Real-world case studies illustrate both the benefits and environmental concerns associated with nano-bioinoculant applications. Finally, future perspectives emphasize the development of biodegradable nanocarriers, integration with precision agriculture technologies, and the need for harmonized regulatory frameworks. Overall, this chapter provides a balanced assessment of nano-bioinoculants, supporting their responsible development and deployment for environmentally sustainable agriculture.

Summary

Substance that acts as a catalyst in living organisms, regulating the rate at which life’s chemical reactions proceed without being altered in the process. Enzymes reduce the activation energy needed to start these reactions, without them, most such reactions would not take place at a useful rate. Because enzymes are not consumed, only tiny amounts of them are needed. Enzymes catalyze all aspects of cell metabolism, including the digestion of food, in which large nutrient molecules (including proteins, carbohydrates, and fats) are broken down into smaller molecules; the conservation and transformation of chemical energy and the construction of cellular materials and components. Almost all enzymes are proteins; many depend on a nonprotein cofactor, either a loosely associated organic compound (e.g., a vitamin) or a tightly bound metal ion (e.g., iron, zinc) or organic (often metal-containing) group.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that regulate biochemical reactions and control metabolic pathways. This chapter explains how metabolomics can contribute to the discovery and functional characterization of enzymes by identifying changes in metabolite concentrations associated with enzymatic activity. Comparative metabolomics, gene knockout experiments, stable-isotope labeling, and multi-omics integration are discussed as approaches for linking metabolites with enzyme functions. Analytical platforms such as GC–MS, LC–MS, and NMR, together with databases including KEGG, BRENDA, HMDB, and METLIN, support metabolite identification and pathway analysis. The chapter also considers experimental validation, bioinformatics, challenges associated with unknown metabolites, and future applications involving artificial intelligence and computational biology.

Enzymes are remarkable biological macromolecules that catalyze chemical reactions with extraordinary efficiency, playing an essential role in sustaining life. These large protein molecules and certain catalytic RNA molecules known as ribozymes accelerate reactions by lowering activation energy, enabling them to occur at rates necessary for biological processes. Their specificity is just as impressive as their speed as enzymes are often highly regioselective and, in many cases, absolutely stereospecific, traits that synthetic chemists strive to replicate. They are vital in metabolism, DNA replication, signal transduction, and cellular respiration, operating under mild physiological conditions. Factors such as temperature, pH, substrate concentration, and the presence of inhibitors or activators influence their activity. Given their significance, enzymes have garnered attention in fields like drug design, disease treatment, and industrial applications. The modern study of enzymes continues to provide groundbreaking insights into chemistry and biology, advancing both scientific understanding and human welfare. Brief History of Enzymes The existence of enzymes was first inferred when specific biochemical reactions were observed to occur only after the addition of cell extracts, even though the enzymes themselves could not be directly identified like typical molecules. In the early days, enzymes within these extracts were highly impure and present in low concentrations, as advanced protein