Author: Uday Chand Jha

Dr. Uday C Jha graduated from Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. He is working in the area of grain legume breeding, genetics and genomics for both biotic and abiotic stress tolerance since 2010 at Indian Institute of Pulses Research, Kanpur, ICAR, India. He is associated in contributing 8 chickpea varieties and registered 3 chickpea germplasm (with specific trait) at NBPGR, New Delhi. He was awarded with ISPRD fellow in 2016 by ISPRD and young scientist award by IJBSM society in 2017 at Jaipur India. Dr. Harsh Nayyar has M.Sc. and Ph D in Botany, with a specialization in Stress Physiology from Punjab Agricultural University, India. He worked in the Faculty of Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, India and is currently a Professor in Panjab University, India. Dr Nayyar has been working on responses of various food legumes (Chickpea, Lentil, Beans) to drought, cold, heat, salt and metals, for the past 15 years, in collaboration with many national (Punjab Agricultural University, India, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, India) and international (World Vegetable Center, ICRISAT, ICARDA, University of Western Australia) organizations. Professor Kamal dev Sharma holds a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology. He is currently professor and head in the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, CSKHPKV Palampur.  His area of expertise includes plant genomics, abiotic and biotic stresses of plants. Dr. Eric JB von Wettberg is an Associate Professor at the University of Vermont. He holds Ph D in Ecology  from Brown University, received in 2007. He has been a visiting scholar at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Peter the Great Polytechical University, St. Petersburg Russia, and Ecole Nacional Superieure Agronomique de Toulouse, France. He has vast experience in conducting research in area of population genomics and domestication of legumes, symbiosis, conservation genetics, landscape genetics, symbiont and microbial mediation of plant traits. Dr Prashant Singh is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Department of Botany at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. Dr. Singh has a strong background in plant physiology, molecular biology, seed dormancy, and plant molecular pathology. Hackett Professor of Agriculture Chair and Director of The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia. Distinguished Professor, Shenyang Agricultural University, Adjunct Professor, Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University, Lanzhou University. Guangzhou University and Huazhong Agricultural University, China, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, African Academy of Sciences, Australian Agricultural Institute and Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Professor Siddique was designated by UN FAO as Special Ambassador for the International Year of Pulses 2016. Over 30 years’ experience in agricultural research, teaching and management in both Australia and overseas.