Harnessing Sesuvium Portulacastrum for Biosaline Agriculture

Suprasanna Penna, Ph.D. (Genetics) is the Director of Amity Institute of Nuclear Biotechnology, Amity University of Maharashtra, Mumbai, India. He was formerly with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, as the Head of Nuclear Agriculture and Biotechnology Division. He is also an IAEA Expert consultant. His significant contributions include plant biotechnology, mutation breeding, stress tolerance, and biopolymers for enhancing plant productivity in plants. His research on plant abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants and halophytes led to elucidating mechanisms of salinity tolerance. He is on the editorial board of several international journals and has published over 410 publications. He has edited several books on plant mutation breeding, salinity tolerance, plant genetic diversity, plant biotechnology and plant-metal interactions, and has served as the Guest Editor of special issues of international journals. Ganesh Chandrakant Nikalje, PhD, is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Botany at Seva Sadan’s R. K. Talreja College, Ulhasnagar (affiliated to University of Mumbai), India. His major areas of research include, unravelling the salt adaptation mechanism of halophytes, development of bio-saline agriculture, phytoremediation, endophyte-assisted growth promotion and stress tolerance in plants, and assessment of wild vegetables for nutritional and value-added products. He did his Ph D in Botany from Savitribai Phule Pune University and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, India under BARC-SPPU Collaborative Ph.D. program. He did Post Doctoral research in Gyeongsang National University, South Korea as SERB-SIRE fellow of Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India. He has received M.S. Swaminathan Research Excellence Award 2021, and Young Plant Scientist Award 2021 from the Association of Plant Science Researchers (APSR) and the Plantica Foundation, Dehradun, India. He is a recognized adviser for PhD and MSc students at the University of Mumbai. He is serving as an editor and reviewer for several international journals. To date, he has published 6 books, 28 research/review papers in international journals, and 21 book chapters in edited books for international publishers.

• 1. Potentials of Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. in Biosaline Agriculture.- 2. Taxonomy, Geographical Distribution, and Evolutionary Dynamics of Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L..- 3. Biology and Ecophysiological studies in Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L..- 4. Anatomical characteristics of Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L.: their possible relevance and relationship with phenotypic plasticity.- 5. Physiological and biochemical modulations of environmental stress adaptation in Sesuvium portulacastrum (L). L..- 6. Salinity and heavy metals – working together for tolerance in Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L..- 7. Exploring Salt Tolerance Genes in Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.). L.: A Journey from Transcriptomics to Genomics.- 8. Metabolomic and proteomic insights of salt adaptation in the halophyte Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L..- 9. Exploring the microbial diversity of Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L. and its applications in biosaline agriculture.- 10. Phytodesalination Potential of Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) L.: Anatomical, Physiological, and Biochemical traits.- 11. Success stories of Bio saline Agriculture.- 12. Progress updates in Sesuvium portulacastrum in the present-day era: challenges and projections.