Translating Physiological Tools to Augment Crop Breeding

This book covers different physiological processes, tools, and their application in crop breeding.  Each chapter emphasizes on a specific trait/physiological process and its importance in crop, their phenotyping information and how best it can be employed for crop improvement by projecting on success stories in different crops. It covers wide range of physiological topics including advances in field phenotyping, role of endophytic fungi, metabolomics, application of stable isotopes, high throughput phenomics, transpiration efficiency,  root phenotyping and root exudates for improved resource use efficiency, cuticular wax and its application, advances in photosynthetic studies, leaf spectral reflectance and physiological breeding in hardy crops like millets. This book also covers the futuristic research areas like artificial intelligence and machine learning.

This contributed volume compiles all application parts of physiological tools along with their advanced research in these areas, which is very much need of the hour for both academics and researchers for ready reference. This book will be of interest to teachers, researchers, climate change scientists, capacity builders, and policy makers. Also, the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, physiology, botany, ecology, and environmental sciences. National and international agricultural scientists will also find this a useful resource.

MAMRUTHA HAROHALLI MASTHI GOWDA, Ph.D., is presently serving as a senior scientist (plant physiology) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal, Haryana, India. She obtained her B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru, India. She has approximately 15 years of experience in research and development and has published around 45 research and review articles in peer-reviewed national and international journals, 25 book chapters, 3 technical bulletins, and more than 60 popular articles. Dr.Mamrutha has handled 12 research projects in various capacities, including projects funded by USDA, DBT-BBSRC, CIMMYT, ACIAR, and ICAR, and presented research findings at several national and international forums. Her research is largely focused on physiological trait-based breeding for improving photosynthesis, yield and abiotic stress tolerance, and use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in wheat improvement. She has co-developed five high-yielding wheat varieties and ten wheat genetic stocks for abiotic stress tolerance and for improving nutritional quality. She has been serving as an editor of Plant Physiology Reports, editorial board member of the Journal of Cereal Research, and as reviewer of many international journals. She is committed to her professionalism and has been honored with several recognitions, including Nanaji Deshmukh ICAR Award 2021, Prof. Mahatim Singh Memorial Award, RD Asana Gold Medal Award, JC Bose Gold Medal Award, ICAR-IIWBR Best Scientist Award. Dr. Mamrutha is also a recipient of international fellowships from the Wheat Initiative; Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, USA, and IUBMB, France.

GOPALAREDDY KRISHNAPPA, Ph.D., Scientist, ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute (ICAR-SBI), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India completed his bachelor’s degree in 2006 and master’s degree in 2008 from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, and doctorate degree in genetics from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, in 2016. Dr. Reddy is an accomplished and dedicated agricultural researcher with a rich experience of over a decade in wheat research. He has developed 11 wheat varieties and 26 wheat genetic stocks to benefit multitude stakeholders including farmers, consumers, researchers, and industry. His research is largely focused on the development of high-yielding wheat varieties with improved quality attributes. Dr. Reddy utilized modern breeding tools like genomic selection, MARS, MAS, and GWAS to complement conventional breeding techniques to dissect complex traits in wheat. He has published more than 30 research and review articles of national and international repute in high-impact journals, 2 books, 15 book chapters, and 30 technical or popular articles. He has been teaching students from different state agriculture universities and private universities for more than 3 years. Dr. Reddy was conferred with Nanaji Deshmukh ICAR Award 2021, AIASA Young Scientist Award 2020, Institute Best Worker 2020, NEEDEF Young Scientist Award 2021, and Dr. VS Mathur Memorial Award 2022.

RINKI KHOBRA, Ph.D., presently serves as a scientist (plant physiology) at ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research under the aegis of Indian Council of Agricultural Research. She received her M.Sc. degree from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra in Botany and Ph.D. from ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India in plant physiology. Her research is primarily focused on abiotic stress tolerance, mainly during drought, and lodging in wheat. She is also working on identification of plant traits contributing towards higher yield potential along with root system architectural studies. Dr. Khobra is associated with the development of one bread wheat variety and ten genetic stocks for various physiological traits. She has published more than 15 research and review articles of national and international repute along with 1 bulletin, 7 book chapters, and 45 popular articles. Apart from research, Dr. Khobra is also involved in teaching Ph.D. scholars. She is a lifetime member of a few professional societies.

GYANENDRA SINGH, Ph.D., is principal scientist at ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal, India. Dr. Singh graduated from Janta Vedic College in 1982 followed by M.Sc. in 1984 and Ph.D. in 1998. He re-defined and executed a shuttle breeding methodology for wider adaptability, resistance, and yield in wheat. He devised a new double-digit appraisal scale for spot blotch disease severity in wheat, which is convenient and time-saving, especially while evaluating large breeding populations. Dr. Singh has contributed to the development of 25 varieties, 50 genetic stocks, and 15 RIL populations in wheat to facilitate molecular studies. He has published 160 research articles, 10 edited books, 8 bulletins, 19 book chapters, 5 review articles, 6 training manuals, and 100 popular/technical articles. Dr. Singh is an elected fellow of the Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research and the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding. Dr. Singh received USAID fellowship from Mississippi State University, USA, and a certificate of achievements from the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) for training at the University of Florida. He is member of the scientific advisory committee of PPV&FRA, New Delhi. Dr. Singh has received distinguished scientist award from SSDAT, best research team award of DWR , in 2006; DWR best scientist award, Nanaji Deshmukh ICAR Award 2021, and VS Mathur award (2020).

GYANENDRA PRATAP SINGH, Ph.D., Director, ICAR-Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal has more than 27 years of agriculture research experience, including 10 years of teaching and more than 6years of administration experience, which led to many milestones. Dr. Singh is instrumental in the development of 61 wheat,3 barley varieties, and 1 potato variety, benefitting multitude farmers, consumers, and industries. He is the main force behind the development and fast spreading of improved mega-wheat varieties. Dr. Singh largely focused on intrinsic research on heat and drought tolerance for wheat improvement in India and developed many climate-resilient wheat varieties. He is also a leader of cutting-edge technologies like marker-assisted recurrent selection and precision phenotyping for heat and drought tolerance. He has published more than 300 research articles of national and international repute with high impact factors, 20 books, 65 book chapters, 57 technical bulletins, 55 popular articles, and 5 policy/strategy papers. His strenuous efforts in advancing the research and development led to several accolades at the national and international levels, and he has been honored with 19 prestigious awards. He is also an elected fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Science, the Indian Society of Genetics and Plant Breeding, the Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research, and the Scientific Development in Agriculture and Technology.