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The enzymes are biological catalysts responsible for breaking down organic matter, necessary for nutrient cycling and maintaining soil health. The enzymes mediated composting involves different hydrolytic enzymes to decompose organic matter into simpler molecules. Garbage enzymes are found in garbage or waste materials, and have the potential to be used in biotechnology and industrial processes. Garbage enzymes can increase the efficiency and sustainability of various industrial processes and can also provide a way to utilize the resources present in waste materials. This article focusses on evaluating the scope and potential for application of garbage enzymes in enzymatic degradation of organic waste. The literature on this topic is scattered, and focuses primarily on biological aspects of compost formation. The present review is an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the characterization of biocatalytic composting. The authors aim to provide a perspective to prompt the application of new biocatalyst i.e., garbage enzymes, that enhances the degradation as well as mitigates the nitrogen loss. First, the reported enzymes for composting are reviewed and discussed in terms of the ability to understand the compost formation. Next, the evolution of garbage enzymes on temporal scale of evolution is mentioned in detail. Further, the role of organic acids (produced in garbage enzymes) in preserving the nitrogen during the composting process are discussed in detail. Finally, the bioprocess performance of garbage enzymes in bioprocessing is highlighted and the key enzymes present in garbage enzymes and their significance in composting are reviewed.

In the present review, the application of metaproteomics is highlighted to understand the microbial species under different environmental conditions. As the environmental conditions are changing because of natural and anthropogenic activities, the molecular microbiology of the environment is also affected. The proteins are essential molecules expressed by the microorganism under environmental stresses, which are extracted and analyzed for the studies. Metaproteomics based on the molecular microbial ecology is still at the very incipient stage but has a strong potential over other non-omics and omics methods.

In this study, the raw dung fibers (RDF) separated from fresh cow dung and digested dung fibers (DDF) were collected from an anaerobically digested bottled biogas plant. The entire study was planned to characterize and analyze both RDF and DDF samples. The results showed that the cellulose and hemicellulose content were in the range of 36–38% and 21–23%, respectively. The total lignin contents in RDF and DDF were 26.17% and 31.92%, while the ash content of 6.2% was found in DDF followed by 5.8% in RDF. Surface characteristics of RDF and DDF were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The proximate analysis and morphological characteristics of both samples showed that dung fibers are a sustainable potential non-wood material for various industrial applications.

The paper evaluates varying trends in ten climate variables, i.e., maximum temperature (Tmx), mean temperature (Tmp), minimum temperature (Tmn), diurnal temperature range (Dtr), total precipitation (Pre), cloud cover (Cld), wet day frequency (Wet), vapor pressure deficit (Vpd), vapor pressure (Vap), and potential evapotranspiration (Pet), and their impacts on wheat yields during Rabicropping season in India from 1986 to 2015 using regression modeling and correlation analysis. There are three aspects in the present study, i.e., comprehensive coverage of climate variables, use of cropping season over weather classification, and investigation of India as study area because India accounts for ~1/6th of the world population and ~14% of global wheat production. We find that Tmx, Tmp, Tmn, Vpd, Petare increasing in eight and Dtrand Cldin seven Indian states, whereas Wetand Vapare decreasing in five and Prein four Indian states. Most climate variables in the present study negatively impact wheat yields. The climate trends drive total wheat yield losses up to ~309 kg/ha (~11%) over the study period. The regression models explain up to ~80% of wheat yield variability. The paper provides strong evidence that varying climate trends are negatively impacting wheat yield in India, thus presenting a global concern. Water supply and water demand are important climate variables, essential to be investigated in future studies. Using cropping season over standard weather classification provides more practical insight in the crop yield. This study emphasizes timely attention and intervention in agriculture practices leading to policy formation, amendments and practical execution.

Wheat is an important agricultural crop globally. India ranks second in the world, accounting for ~ 14% of global wheat production. Wheat provides food and livelihood to a large Indian population. India would require improving its wheat yield significantly to feed the growing population. Ascertaining the wheat yield trends and their sensitivity to rising temperatures is crucial to enable sustainable wheat production, ensuring a continuous food supply. India is a diverse and vast country. One size fit to allapproach seems not to offer practical and workable solutions. Therefore, it is essential to perform finer resolution analysis to identify the smallest possible administrative units (districts) to implement adaptation strategies. This study presents the spatial distribution of wheat yield trends and the impact of temperature on wheat yield across Indian districts. The key differentiating aspect of the present work is the district-level analysiscompared to state-of-the-art state-level analysisin the earlier literature. We developed detailed wheat yield and temperature statistics of 50 years (1966–2015) by employing various statistical models. The present study’s critical findings over the state-of-the-art research work are: (1) Wheat yield is not improving in 69 out of 175 districts across eight major wheat-producing Indian states. 175 districts included in the analysis constitute ~ 94% of the total wheat harvested area in India, and the 69 identified districts constitute ~ 48.3% of the total wheat harvested area. The stagnation in wheat yield is prominent in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Punjab. (2) Mean temperature rise has negatively impacted wheat yield in 145 districts (~ 76.5% of the total wheat harvested area), causing ~ 251 kg/ha (~ 16%) yield loss in statistically significant districts. The rigorous and robust methodology in this paper ensures the validity of findings and provides higher confidence in utilizing the findings in policymaking. The method and approach used in the study pave the way for similar investigations in the other parts of the world, where wheat is an important crop.

Background: According to the current scenario with millions of deaths worldwide, the outbreak of COVID-19 has created global havoc. The vast spreading of COVID-19 has already challenged the healthcare system and economy of the world. Every country is now putting the best efforts to develop its standards, strategies, and policies to fight against this pandemic. Therefore, a huge amount of research grants is allocated for the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 globally. Objective: Scientists/researchers around the world are working in different fields, i.e., biological, physical, and chemical sciences, and have collaborated for an effective outcome to combat this pandemic. In light of the above-mentioned challenges, the researchers of the nanotechnology community can also contribute significantly in this direction. Results: As team members of the nanotechnology community, we suggest various research targets that can be designed/improved, optimized, and developed by nanotechnologists. These research targets include Point-of-care diagnostics (POCD), Surveillance and monitoring, Therapeutics, Vaccine development, Improving existing drugs with potential therapeutic applications, Developing antiviral nanocoating/antimicrobial spray-based coating for PPE, Magnetic nanoparticles and viral RNA (Ribonucleic acid), and Rapid detection kits. Conclusion: It can be concluded that multiple areas, such as the development of nano-biosensor based diagnostic technology (capable to produce fast and accurate results), development of nanoencapsulated drugs/vaccines or other efficient systems, testing/improving existing drugs with potential therapeutic applications, developing antiviral nanocoating/antimicrobial spray-based coating for PPE, etc., need immediate attention.

Synthetic polymers are widely used globally for food and other packagings playing an important role in food packaging during transportation, handling and also increasing shelf-life of product at a controlled atmospheric condition. Most of the time, plastic is preferred as a packaging material due to its inherent properties like light in weight, strength, durability, availability, convenience and relatively inexpensive. In this review, it has been tried to preface some plastic material, their sustainability, adaptability, advantages and disadvantages over the packaging of any food product and trying to clarify the different properties of plastic materials and their effect on packaged food.

Nanobionics involves the improvement of plant or plant productivity using nanomaterials. Growth of a plant from a seed encompasses various factors that are directly or indirectly dependent upon the imbibition of micro- and macro-nutrients and vital elements from the soil. Since most of the nutrition is physiologically unavailable to the plants, it leads to mineral deficiencies in the plant and mineral toxicity in the soil. Either way, it is not a favorable situation for the microcosm. The new era of nanotechnology offers a potential solution to the availability of the nutrients to the plants due to its unique chemical and physical properties of nanoparticles. The positive and negative impact of these nanoparticles on seed quality and plant growth varies according to the specific properties of nanoparticles. The present review is an attempt to summarize the impact of nanobionics in agriculture.

India is one of the largest landmasses under crop cultivation with staple consumption of food security crops. Post green revolution (since 1967), there has been a steady March towards self-sustainability in food production. Though the general trends speak of an increase in crop yields, the detailed study on decade wise trends and fast approaching state of stagnation in crop yields is largely missing. The present manuscript is the first study examining the crop yield trends of three major food crops—wheat, rice, and maize across Indian states. The four types of regression models were fitted on the annual yield data from all the 29 Indian states over the period 1967–2017. The best-fit statistical models were chosen using the Akaike information criterion. Our results suggest that (1) Wheat yields in 13 Indian states, rice yields in eleven Indian states, and maize yields in six Indian states are now not improving. (2) The yields in ~ 76% of wheat harvested area (~ 18.5 million hectares), ~ 47% of rice harvested area (~ 19.5 million hectares), and ~ 18% of maize harvested area (~ 1.2 million hectares) are not improving for the recent decade. The detailed mapping of current crop yield trends across Indian states is the first step towards achieving a bigger goal of identifying the responsible factors affecting current crop yield trends and then identifying and recommending appropriate mitigation strategies.

Copper oxide nanoparticles are an integral part of modern agrochemical industries, such as pesticides and nano fertilizers. It has been extensively reviewed and reported that the interaction of nanoparticles with plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) may be toxic due to their accumulation in the soil and may remain in contact for a long time which causes a negative impact on the soil microbial community. The study presented here, investigates the impact of the copper oxide nanoparticles on the isolated PGPR species Bacillius megateriumAGNTL MM7 in invitroconditions. We observed that the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at ¼ of Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) of CuO nanoparticles resulted in a decrease in the Indole Acetic Acid (IAA) production (83.05 μg/ml) the marker of the nanoparticles mediated stress on the Bacillus megateriumAGNTL MM7. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay was observed at 4 mg/ml. The solubility of CuO Nanoparticles was 0.014% and the Nanotracking analyzer estimated the size ranges between 100-200 nm in a liquid medium. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) studies observed that the concentration of 1mg/ml nanoparticles showed a strong affinity with cell envelope and caused a significant negative impact on the microorganism, resulting in 58% inhibition in IAA production was observed in comparison to the control i.e.,197.8 μg/ml. The flow cytometric analysis also significantly validated the toxicity at the same concentration.