Cyanobacteria: A Precious Bio-resource in Agriculture, Ecosystem, and Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Keeping in view, the challenges concerning agro-ecosystem and environment, the recent developments in biotechnology offers a more reliable approach to address the food security for future generations and also resolve the complex environmental problems. Several unique features of cyanobacteria such as oxygenic photosynthesis, high biomass yield, growth on non-arable lands and a wide variety of water sources (contaminated and polluted waters), generation of useful by-products and bio-fuels, enhancing the soil fertility and reducing green house gas emissions, have collectively offered these bio-agents as the precious bio-resource for sustainable development. Cyanobacterial biomass is the effective bio-fertilizer source to improve soil physico-chemical characteristics such as water-holding capacity and mineral nutrient status of the degraded lands. The unique characteristics of cyanobacteria include their ubiquity presence, short generation time and capability to fix the atmospheric N2. Similar to other prokaryotic bacteria, the cyanobacteria are increasingly applied as bio-inoculants for improving soil fertility and environmental quality. Genetically engineered cyanobacteria have been devised with the novel genes for the production of a number of bio-fuels such as bio-diesel, bio-hydrogen, bio-methane, synga, and therefore, open new avenues for the generation of bio-fuels in the economically sustainable manner. This review is an effort to enlist the valuable information about the qualities of cyanobacteria and their potential role in solving the agricultural and environmental problems for the future welfare of the planet.

Cyanobacterial Farming for Environment Friendly Sustainable Agriculture Practices: Innovations and Perspectives

“…In modern agriculture, microbial intervention further strengthens the impact of transgenic organisms. Microbes play a vital role in determining the fertility and structure of soils (Vaishampayan et al, 2001;Singh, 2014;Singh et al, 2016), in processing and preservation of crops, and in recycling the residues of crops (Saddler, 1993;Hanson, 1996). Microbial activity in soil fertility, bioremediation and biocontrol requires the introduction of genetically engineered or natural microbial inoculants; however, mere inoculation of microbes in soil is not sufficient.…”

“…The nitrogen fixing ability of cyanobacteria aids their successful growth and survival in habitats where no or little combined nitrogen is available. This trait of cyanobacteria makes them agronomically and economically important as biofertilizers (Singh, 1961(Singh, , 2014Vaishampayan et al, 2001;Singh et al, 2016).…”

“…In recent years, microalgae, including cyanobacteria, have emerged as potential candidates for their application in development of environment friendly and sustainable agricultural practices (Singh et al, 2016. These oxygenevolving photosynthetic organisms do not compete for arable land for their cultivation.…”

“…Additionally, soil salinity is a well-known stressor which affects the plant growth and crop production globally (Upadhyay et al, 2011). The social and economic activities have resulted in reduction of the cultivable area, and hence, in addition to conservation of fertile land, enhancement of the coverage of cultivable land should be one of the focused areas to feed the human population (Singh et al, 2016;Pathak et al, 2017). Modern green technologies such as biofertilizers consisting of cyanobacteria, fungi (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF) and bacteria (plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, PGPR) could improve and restore the soil fertility and ensure the sustainable agricultural production.…”

Cyanobacterial metabolites as a source of sunscreens and moisturizers: a comparison with current synthetic compounds

“…Cyanobacteria represent a diverse group of photosynthetic bacteria -from tiny single cells to large filamentous forms, and have great potential for biotechnological applications in agriculture, mariculture, biomedicals, food and fuel (Singh et al, 2016). One of the most interesting properties of cyanobacteria, especially extremophilic species, is their ability to overcome the detrimental effects of UV radiation, and they have a number of avoidance, protection and repair mechanisms (Fig.…”