Daniel Rosenkranz received his B.Sc. degree in 2011 and his M.Sc. degree in 2014 from the University of Oldenburg. He later worked as a junior researcher at the University of Oldenburg till 2015, funded by the foundation of the metal industry in the northwest Germany. Since 2016, he is working as a Ph.D. scholar at the German Federal Institute of Risk Assessment and the German Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing. His research interests include nanomaterial characterization, fundamentals in analytics, matrix matched measurement strategies, low volume injection systems, protein-nanomaterial interactions.

Soil organic carbon plays an important role in the stability and fertility of soil and is influenced by different management practice. We quantified active and passive carbon pools from total soil organic carbon (TOC) in seven different land use systems of northeast India. TOC was highest (2.75%) in natural forest and lowest in grassland (1.31%) and it decreased with increasing depth in different pools of lability. Very Labile Carbon (VLC) fraction ranged from 36.11 to 42.74% of TOC across different land use system. Active carbon (AC) pool was highest in Wet Rice Cultivation (61.64%) and lowest (58.71%) in natural forest. Higher AC pools (VLC and less labile) in most land use systems barring natural forests suggest that the land use systems in the region are vulnerable to land use change and must adopt suitable management practice to harness carbon sequestration.

The global community decided in 2015 to improve people’s lives by 2030 by setting 17 global goals for sustainable development. The second goal of this community was to end hunger. Plant seeds are an essential input in agriculture; however, during their developmental stages, seeds can be negatively affected by environmental stresses, which can adversely affect seed vigor, seedling establishment, and crop production. Seeds resistant to high salinity, droughts and climate change can result in higher crop yield. The major findings suggested in this review refer nanopriming as an emerging seed technology towards sustainable food amid growing demand with the increasing world population. This novel growing technology could influence the crop yield and ensure the quality and safety of seeds, in a sustainable way. When nanoprimed seeds are germinated, they undergo a series of synergistic events as a result of enhanced metabolism: modulating biochemical signaling pathways, trigger hormone secretion, reduce reactive oxygen species leading to improved disease resistance. In addition to providing an overview of the challenges and limitations of seed nanopriming technology, this review also describes some of the emerging nano-seed priming methods for sustainable agriculture, and other technological developments using cold plasma technology and machine learning.

A study was conducted to assess growth, carbon stock and sequestration potential of oil palm plantations along a chronosequence in Mizoram, Northeast India for which a total of 148 oil palms drawn from different age group plantations (1 to 11 years) were sampled for their biometric parameters and assessment of carbon stock through partial non-destructive methods. All the growth parameters of oil palm (trunk height, crown depth, total height, trunk diameter) and biomass drew from different parts of the palm showed a significant (p < 0.05) progressive growth along a chronosequence. Crown biomass was observed higher (65.00%) in younger age groups 1 -3 years, while the trunk with old frond bases biomass showed a larger percentage (67.96%) in the older oil palm aged 4 -11 years. All the linear correlations between the growth variables with age and biomass were observed significant at p < 0.01. Total above ground biomass (AGB) was highly correlated with the trunk height (r = 0.985), total height (r = 0.994) and age (r = 0.973). On an average, portioning of biomass and carbon stock was in the order: AGB > belowground biomass (BGB) > standing litter biomass > deadwood biomass > understorey biomass. AGB, BGB and deadwood biomass followed an increasing trend while understorey biomass decreased with age. An 11-year oil palm plantation accumulated 111.96 Mg ha −1 biomass with a carbon density of 49.90 Mg C ha −1 and could sequester 3.70 Mg C ha −1 year −1 in 10 years after planting in Mizoram, Northeast India. The findings showed considerable carbon storage with comparative higher values in oil palm plantations than shifting cultivation fallows. This will enable policy and decision makers in framing climate change mitigation and adaptation policies regarding the extension of oil palm plantations in Mizoram.