Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Plant diseases are among the major factors, which limit crop productivity. The first step towards managing a plant disease under greenhouse and field conditions is to correctly identify the pathogen. Nano-diagnostic kit equipment can easily and quickly detect potential serious plant pathogens, allowing plant pathologist to help farmers in preventing epidemic diseases. The current subject deals with the application of nano-technology for quicker, cheaper, and more precise diagnostic procedures of plant diseases. Also, nano-technology can offer green and eco-friendly alternatives for plant disease management. Apart from being ecofriendly, fungi are used as bio-manufacturing units, which will provide an added benefit in being easy to use, as compared to other microbes. Nanotechnological application in plant pathology is still in the early stages. However, nano-fungicides, nano-pesticides and nano-herbicides are being used extensively in agriculture practices. Remote activation and monitoring of intelligent nanodelivery systems can assist agricultural growers in the future to minimize fungicides and pesticides use. Nanoparticle-mediated gene transfer would be useful for improvement of crops resistant to pathogens and pest. Such an accurate technology may also help to design a proper integrated disease management system which may modify crop environments to adversely affect plant pathogens.

Biography

Kamel Ahmed Abd-Elsalam received his PhD degree in Molecular Plant Pathology under the supervision of Professor Verreet J A at Kiel University (2004) and joined Post-doctoral training program in the laboratories of Professors Verreet and Professor Pierre J G M de Wit. His current research interests include developing, improving and deploying plant biosecurity diagnostic tools and response tools, understanding and exploiting pathogen genomes and developing new nanotechnology-based materials. Finally, he has published five book chapters, eight review articles, and more than 95 original scientific research articles in international peer reviewed journals such as Fungal Diversity, FEMS Review Microbiology, and PLOS Genetics.

Email: kamel200@ksu.edu.sa