Foreword

Writing forward of this valuable book is a matter of pleasure and honour for me. This book, “Medicinal Plants: Microbial Interactions, Molecular Techniques and Therapeutic Trends” is divided into three sections focusing on medicinal plants and their therapeutic trends and techniques, which can be used to improve medicinal plants. The first section deals with the plant-microbe interaction strategies, the diversity of microbes related to medicinal plants and the role of these microbes in the value addition of medicinal plants. Microbial Phyto-therapeutics and microflora of medicinal plants in hydroponic systems are providing current trends in the respective field. The second section of the book focuses on molecular techniques available for the genetic improvement of medicinal plants. Latest cutting-edge tools such as genome editing and modern breeding tools and techniques are discussed to manipulate medicinal plants for better growth, yield and quality. In the third section of the book, nano strategies and nanoengineering opportunities and challenges are described which are involved in increasing the therapeutic tendencies of medicinal plants. Medicinal plants and their affiliation with the treatment of a variety of diseases along with the production of bioactive clinically administered drugs urge the need for persuasive therapeutic potencies through recent approaches. Detailed chapters on the contribution of nanotechnology in elucidating the pharmacological profile of medicinal plants are explored in this section. Therapeutic enhancement through most employed metallic and carbon nanostructures, nano-elicitors for the production of augmented bioactive secondary metabolites and the role of nanocarriers in achieving the best possible efficacy of the bioactive medicinal ingredients are comprehensively discussed in this section to cover the recent and up-to-date approaches in the nano-manipulations of the medicinal plants.

I am really convinced by the knowledge and expertise of the editors who have done a great job in compiling and formatting a comprehensive and valuable book on the importance, use, and improvement of medicinal plants. I hope that the book will get a broad readership ranging from students to scientists, academia and industry. I appreciate the editors, authors and publishers for their effortless hard work in writing, formatting, compiling and publishing this tremendous and valuable book.