Applied Mycology for Agriculture and Foods

Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this book focuses on recent milestones in basic and applied mycology, focusing on many and diverse applications in the agricultural, food, and biofuel sectors.

Applied Mycology for Agriculture and Foods: Industrial Applications provides an informative update of the current biological status of fungi and advances in conventional and modern molecular tools in identification, taxonomy of fungi, and applications of different taxonomic groups of fungi in various sectors, such as agriculture, food development, postharvesting, biological control of crop diseases, biofertilizers, bioremediation, pigments, pharmaceuticals, enzymes, biofuel production, etc.

The volume addresses fungal biodiversity conservation, the emerging field of fungal metagenomics, the role of fungi in eco-safety and warfare, and the bioprospecting of fungi for hydrocarbons for biofuel production. Several chapters discuss using fungi in agricultural management, such as for the biocontrol of plant diseases, using entomopathogenic fungi as a pesticide, using nematophagous fungi for controlling nematodes that eat crops, using fungi in the development of biofertilizers, and more. The role of fungi in post-harvest diseases management in horticultural crops is looked at as well.

Key features:

• Provides up-to-date information and advances in biological status and classification of fungi
• Discusses the comprehensive role of fungi in various sectors, in food and agriculture, in biofuel production, in the production of production of antibiotics or antimicrobial agents, etc.
• Presents the recent systemic taxonomic classifications, developments, applications in molecular mycology and conservation strategies for mycoflora

Aiming to bridge the knowledge gap between basic and applied aspects of mycology, this volume provides a wealth of information that will be valuable for researchers, industrial scientists, faculty and students in mycology and plant pathology as well as in botany, microbiology, food microbiology, pharmaceutical development, biotechnology and biofuel production, and other professional disciplines.