Plant Growth Regulators: Resilience for Sustainable Agriculture

Dr. Mohammad Faizan is working as an Assistant Professor of Botany at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India. He did his Postdoc from Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China and his Ph.D. in Botany from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. His primary research embraces exploring nanoparticles' impacts on the abiotic stress tolerance mechanism in plants through physiological and molecular approaches. The findings of his work have revealed that exogenous application of nanoparticles (zinc oxide, copper oxide, chitosan) improved the yield and quality of plants under drought stress, heavy metal stress and salt stress. He taught plant science to Master's students at Nanjing Forestry University, China. He has published more than 72 scientific publications addressing nanotechnology for plant growth, development and stress tolerance, nanoparticles: a new tool to enhance stress tolerance and has authored or co-authored 16 book chapters. Published papers have addressed topics such as abiotic stress tolerance with the use of different nanoparticles, melatonin, epibrassinolide, and salicylic acid in various plant species. Findings of his research works have been published in various international journals such as Chemosphere, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Plants, IET Nanobiotechnology, Photosynthetica, Nitric Oxide, Journal of Plant Growth Regulation etc. with high impact factors. Dr. Faizan is the guest editor of Nanomaterials, Genes, and review editor of Frontiers in Plant Sciences (Plant Physiology and Plant Abiotic Stress) and also an editorial board member of the Journal of Plant Sciences and Journal of Modern Biology and Drug Discovery. He has attended several national and international conferences.

Prof. Shamsul Hayat is working in the area of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry and made a significant contribution to exploring the role of hormones and nanomaterials on plants under varied environmental conditions. A major contribution was made to the area of phytohormones mainly brassinosteroids and salicylic acid, to examine their role in improving the photosynthetic efficiency and antioxidant system, besides studying protein profiling in hormone-treated plants. Prof. Hayat has authored more than 200 scientific publications and edited 14 books published by international publishers. He has worked as an R.A. and Young Scientist at Aligarh Muslim University, a BOYSCAST Fellow at the NIAS, Tsukuba, Japan and a visiting Scientist under the INSA-Bilateral exchange program at the University of Bialystok, Poland. He has also worked as an Associate Professor at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Dr. Hayat has been awarded Prof. Hira Lal Chakravorty Award by ISCA, India, Associate of NAAS, New Delhi, BOYSCAST fellow by DST, New Delhi, a young scientist by the Association of the Advancement of Science, Aligarh, Dr. P.S. Khankhoje gold medal by Dr. Punjab Rao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. Dr. Hayat has presented his work at several national and international conferences in Japan, Brazil, Spain, China, Poland, and Saudia Arabia. He is a regular reviewer and is on the panel of the editorial board of National and International journals. Dr. Hayat is also a member of important National and International scientific societies. Recently he has been appointed as an Indian representative in the Asia Association of Plant Scientists.