Project title: Development of bioinoculant based formulation for enhanced phytoremediation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated soil Project: DST WOS-B (2017-2020)

Increased industrialization over the last century has led to elevated releases of anthropogenic chemicals into the environment. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), phenols, pesticides, herbicides, metals, and salts are some common examples of organic chemicals which have been widely distributed in environment throughout the globe. The contamination of soil with aromatic compounds like PCB‟s is of particular environmental concern as they exhibit carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Twelve organic compounds have been listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPS) by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, under the United Nations Environment Programme. PCBs are one of the major class of POP, represented by 209 individual derivatives with biphenyl rings chlorinated at different positions. Due to their volatility, chemical stability and ability to enter food chains they constitute a substantial environmental and health risk for plants, animals and humans. PCBs have been found to absorb by humans and animals through their skin, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract, leading to increased risk of developing cancer and developmental disabilities. The removal of PCBs has been a challenge. Although various physicochemical processes have been reported they suffer from the disadvantage of either being difficult in operational aspects, expensive and harmful to the environment. Hence, the development of methodology that would result in safe, economical and maximal degradation of PCBs is the urgent need of time. Thus, with a global demand for sustainable and green bioremediation technologies tackling the menace of toxic synthetic organic compounds in environmental soil, the use of PGPR or the consortia of PCB degraders that exhibit improved biodegradation capabilities and are able to maintain stable relationships with plants is highly recommended. Hence the proposed project focuses on development of formulation of bacterial consortia/consortium capable of degrading PCB to enhance phytoremediation of PCB contaminated soil.

Production and use of indigenous local strains of microbial pesticides through trainings, demonstrations and installation of cost effective production units for the farmers of Rajasthan.

As per the recent survey crop pests are one of the major factor responsible for decrease in crop yield. Chemical pesticides are widely used in controlling these pests. Each year approximately 5.6 billion pounds of chemical pesticides are used worldwide. Extensive and deliberate use of chemical pesticides account for the ecological unbalance. The heavy use of pesticides is causing serious damage to soil, groundwater, ecosystem and human health. Therefore, it is utmost important to find out suitable and sustainable ways to overcome the usage of chemical pesticides for protecting the crops without hampering the agricultural output. In the recent years chemical pesticides are slowly being substituted by biopesticides to control plant pests and plant diseases Microbial pesticides are preparations containing living microorganisms (Bacteria, Fungi, Viruses, Nematodes etc.) which are pathogenic for the insects- pests and plant pathogens. Proposed project is aimed to isolate indigenous effective strains of microbial pesticides i.e. Bacillus thuringenesis(Bt), Psudomonas fluorescence, Trichoderma viride, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae from the proposed districts of Rajasthan and to characterize them for their disease and insect-pests controlling potential through conducting in vitro and in vivo trials. It is also proposed to organize training and demonstration programmes on production and use of microbial pesticides for the farmers. Field demonstrations on efficacy of various microbial pesticides using indigenous strains shall be conducted in farmers fields. Group of farmers/ individual farmer shall be encouraged to establish their own production unit and produce microbial pesticides for their own use or for the entire group at their respective places. Community centres shall be developed at village or block level for mass production of microbial pesticides taking financial assistance from district administration. It is also proposed to develop organic block / village using microbial pesticides produced at community centres. A part of that, efforts shall also be made to establish more number of production units with the help of department of agriculture and horticulture under the various projects. Objectives of the project shall be implemented in collaboration with state department of agriculture and horticulture as well as other extension agencies i.e. NABARD, NGOs etc.

Removal of toxic metal ions from industrial discharge using microalgae

An increase in environmental contamination due to toxic industrial discharges have become a worldwide problem today. The aqueous discharges emanating from industrial processes such as mining, smelting, metal-plating, textile and dyeing industries contain dissolved heavy metals and other pollutants that can generate signi?cant environmental problems. Conventional methods of heavy metal removal from wastewater are very costly and not eco friendly, also generates huge toxic sludge at the end of process. Therefore, in recent years, the use of microbial biomass for detoxi?cation of industrial e?uents for environmental protection and recovery of valuable metals through biosorption o?ers a potential alternative to existing technologies. Among microbial biosorbents, microalgae can be used as a promising candidate for removal of metal ions from wastewater due to their existence in all habitats, easy cultivation and regeneration in wastewater. The proposed work aims to utilize microalgae as a potential biosorbent for detoxification and removing of toxic heavy metals from industrial discharges. The work includes the isolation of microalgae from contaminated sites of industries and their identification and characterization using standard microbial techniques. Investigation of the isolated microalgae for maximum absorption of heavy metals from simulated and industrial effluent in a batch and continues column system. Recovery of the absorbed metal and regeneration of biosorbent using suitable desorbing agent for its continues use in absorption and desorption cycles.

Enhancing Phytochemical Production by the use of Elicitors

Due to the high and increasing incidents of diseases, there had been concerted efforts to raise public awareness about the advantages of eating a healthy diet. Among food products, fruits and vegetables are especially known to have a high potential for preventing diseases due to their broad range of health promoting phytochemicals. Numerous epidemiological studies have already documented an inverse association between fruit and vegetable consumption and chronic diseases. However, despite of the requirement of a healthy diet, it is observed that the overall fruit and vegetable consumption by the general population is relatively low, and is also well under internationally recommended amounts. The reason for this low fruit and vegetable consumption could be compounded by consumer complacency, low income, and poor educational standards. One way of increasing the consumption of health-promoting phytochemicals in the diet would be by increasing their levels in the fruit and vegetables themselves. Hence, the proposed work aims to enhance the production of these phytochemicals by the use of elicitors. The elicitors are defined as compounds, which can qualitatively and quantitatively alter the content of bioactive secondary metabolites (phytochemicals) and could be biotic or abiotic in nature. Fruits and vegetables enriched with phytochemicals can be used for sale as fresh market products or as raw material for functional foods and supplements.

Endophytic bacteria mediated phytoremediation of organic pollutants

Organic pollutants like polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) among others are known to pose serious environmental problems and potential human health risks being persistent and resistant to natural detoxification or mineralization. Modern life style and increased anthropogenic activities leads to burgeoning accumulation of these compounds in ecosystem. The existing chemical methods to cleanup affected areas are expensive and environmental invasive. Plant and certain associated microbes carry natural detoxification of pollutants by the process named as phyto/rhizoremediation appear to be method of choice for environmental cleanup. This project deals with isolation and identification bacterial genera endowed with the potentials to carry bioremediation. Also, we are focusing on the development of the method/s for detection and quantification of key genes encoding degradative enzymes that can be used to monitor the influence of phytochemicals/secondary plant metabolites/root exudates etc. on the size of population and activity of degraders organism during remediations. We are aiming to increase solubilization of pollutants to increase its bioavailability to either plants degrading microflora through biosurfactant production.

Project title: Development of bioinoculant based formulation for enhanced phytoremediation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contaminated soil Project: DST WOS-B (2017-2020)

Increased industrialization over the last century has led to elevated releases of anthropogenic chemicals into the environment. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), phenols, pesticides, herbicides, metals, and salts are some common examples of organic chemicals which have been widely distributed in environment throughout the globe. The contamination of soil with aromatic compounds like PCB‟s is of particular environmental concern as they exhibit carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Twelve organic compounds have been listed as persistent organic pollutants (POPS) by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, under the United Nations Environment Programme. PCBs are one of the major class of POP, represented by 209 individual derivatives with biphenyl rings chlorinated at different positions. Due to their volatility, chemical stability and ability to enter food chains they constitute a substantial environmental and health risk for plants, animals and humans. PCBs have been found to absorb by humans and animals through their skin, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract, leading to increased risk of developing cancer and developmental disabilities. The removal of PCBs has been a challenge. Although various physicochemical processes have been reported they suffer from the disadvantage of either being difficult in operational aspects, expensive and harmful to the environment. Hence, the development of methodology that would result in safe, economical and maximal degradation of PCBs is the urgent need of time. Thus, with a global demand for sustainable and green bioremediation technologies tackling the menace of toxic synthetic organic compounds in environmental soil, the use of PGPR or the consortia of PCB degraders that exhibit improved biodegradation capabilities and are able to maintain stable relationships with plants is highly recommended. Hence the proposed project focuses on development of formulation of bacterial consortia/consortium capable of degrading PCB to enhance phytoremediation of PCB contaminated soil.

Production and use of indigenous local strains of microbial pesticides through trainings, demonstrations and installation of cost effective production units for the farmers of Rajasthan.

As per the recent survey crop pests are one of the major factor responsible for decrease in crop yield. Chemical pesticides are widely used in controlling these pests. Each year approximately 5.6 billion pounds of chemical pesticides are used worldwide. Extensive and deliberate use of chemical pesticides account for the ecological unbalance. The heavy use of pesticides is causing serious damage to soil, groundwater, ecosystem and human health. Therefore, it is utmost important to find out suitable and sustainable ways to overcome the usage of chemical pesticides for protecting the crops without hampering the agricultural output. In the recent years chemical pesticides are slowly being substituted by biopesticides to control plant pests and plant diseases Microbial pesticides are preparations containing living microorganisms (Bacteria, Fungi, Viruses, Nematodes etc.) which are pathogenic for the insects- pests and plant pathogens. Proposed project is aimed to isolate indigenous effective strains of microbial pesticides i.e. Bacillus thuringenesis(Bt), Psudomonas fluorescence, Trichoderma viride, Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae from the proposed districts of Rajasthan and to characterize them for their disease and insect-pests controlling potential through conducting in vitro and in vivo trials. It is also proposed to organize training and demonstration programmes on production and use of microbial pesticides for the farmers. Field demonstrations on efficacy of various microbial pesticides using indigenous strains shall be conducted in farmers fields. Group of farmers/ individual farmer shall be encouraged to establish their own production unit and produce microbial pesticides for their own use or for the entire group at their respective places. Community centres shall be developed at village or block level for mass production of microbial pesticides taking financial assistance from district administration. It is also proposed to develop organic block / village using microbial pesticides produced at community centres. A part of that, efforts shall also be made to establish more number of production units with the help of department of agriculture and horticulture under the various projects. Objectives of the project shall be implemented in collaboration with state department of agriculture and horticulture as well as other extension agencies i.e. NABARD, NGOs etc.

Removal of toxic metal ions from industrial discharge using microalgae

An increase in environmental contamination due to toxic industrial discharges have become a worldwide problem today. The aqueous discharges emanating from industrial processes such as mining, smelting, metal-plating, textile and dyeing industries contain dissolved heavy metals and other pollutants that can generate signi?cant environmental problems. Conventional methods of heavy metal removal from wastewater are very costly and not eco friendly, also generates huge toxic sludge at the end of process. Therefore, in recent years, the use of microbial biomass for detoxi?cation of industrial e?uents for environmental protection and recovery of valuable metals through biosorption o?ers a potential alternative to existing technologies. Among microbial biosorbents, microalgae can be used as a promising candidate for removal of metal ions from wastewater due to their existence in all habitats, easy cultivation and regeneration in wastewater. The proposed work aims to utilize microalgae as a potential biosorbent for detoxification and removing of toxic heavy metals from industrial discharges. The work includes the isolation of microalgae from contaminated sites of industries and their identification and characterization using standard microbial techniques. Investigation of the isolated microalgae for maximum absorption of heavy metals from simulated and industrial effluent in a batch and continues column system. Recovery of the absorbed metal and regeneration of biosorbent using suitable desorbing agent for its continues use in absorption and desorption cycles.

Enhancing Phytochemical Production by the use of Elicitors

Due to the high and increasing incidents of diseases, there had been concerted efforts to raise public awareness about the advantages of eating a healthy diet. Among food products, fruits and vegetables are especially known to have a high potential for preventing diseases due to their broad range of health promoting phytochemicals. Numerous epidemiological studies have already documented an inverse association between fruit and vegetable consumption and chronic diseases. However, despite of the requirement of a healthy diet, it is observed that the overall fruit and vegetable consumption by the general population is relatively low, and is also well under internationally recommended amounts. The reason for this low fruit and vegetable consumption could be compounded by consumer complacency, low income, and poor educational standards. One way of increasing the consumption of health-promoting phytochemicals in the diet would be by increasing their levels in the fruit and vegetables themselves. Hence, the proposed work aims to enhance the production of these phytochemicals by the use of elicitors. The elicitors are defined as compounds, which can qualitatively and quantitatively alter the content of bioactive secondary metabolites (phytochemicals) and could be biotic or abiotic in nature. Fruits and vegetables enriched with phytochemicals can be used for sale as fresh market products or as raw material for functional foods and supplements.

Endophytic bacteria mediated phytoremediation of organic pollutants

Organic pollutants like polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) among others are known to pose serious environmental problems and potential human health risks being persistent and resistant to natural detoxification or mineralization. Modern life style and increased anthropogenic activities leads to burgeoning accumulation of these compounds in ecosystem. The existing chemical methods to cleanup affected areas are expensive and environmental invasive. Plant and certain associated microbes carry natural detoxification of pollutants by the process named as phyto/rhizoremediation appear to be method of choice for environmental cleanup. This project deals with isolation and identification bacterial genera endowed with the potentials to carry bioremediation. Also, we are focusing on the development of the method/s for detection and quantification of key genes encoding degradative enzymes that can be used to monitor the influence of phytochemicals/secondary plant metabolites/root exudates etc. on the size of population and activity of degraders organism during remediations. We are aiming to increase solubilization of pollutants to increase its bioavailability to either plants degrading microflora through biosurfactant production.