Sustainable Crop Production

Dr. Anandita Singh is currently a Professor at Department of Biotechnology, TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, India. She teaches courses in molecular genetics and mentors doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. Her special research interest lies in decoding regulatory logic underlying developmental traits and translating fundamental insights into actionable strategies for oil-seed mustard improvement. With over two decades of research experience, including a postdoctoral award from Max Planck Institute of Developmental Biology, Tuebingen, Germany, she actively contributes to cross-disciplinary collaborations in functional genomics. Her work on early flowering transgenic Indian mustard was recognized among the top 15 scientific achievements in India. Dr. Sandip Das, a Professor at the Department of Botany, University of Delhi, is a plant molecular biologist with over 30 years of teaching and research experience. He earned his academic degrees Ph.D. from Jamia Hamdard and TERI, New Delhi (Ph.D), and from the University of Delhi (M.Phil., M.Sc.), specializing in crop genetics and plant breeding. He received post-doctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tuebingen, Germany, and Cornell University, Ithaca, USA. His research focuses on functional and regulatory diversification, regulatory RNAs, and organisation and evolution of polyploid genome particularly in Brassicaceae. His group integrates comparative genomics, evolutionary developmental biology, and functional genomics to understand plant development and adaptation for trait modification and crop improvement. He has published 55+ research articles in leading international journals and has supervised a number of Ph.D., M.Phil., and post-doctoral researchers.Prof. Rajeev K. Varshney FRS is a renowned agricultural scientist with over two decades of experience in genomics and molecular breeding. Currently, he holds multiple prestigious positions at Murdoch University in Australia, which are Professor, Food Futures Institute; Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; Director, WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security. Prof. Varshney has made a significant impact on global food security by creating genomic resources for major "orphan" tropical crops, using these resources to identify genetic loci and candidate genes for drought and pest tolerance in staple crops in Sub-Saharan Africa and India, and spearheading international programs that deliver superior crop varieties to some of the world's most impoverished farmers. Prof. Varshney is an accomplished author, with more than 600 publications to his name, and has been recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher for ten consecutive years (2014-2024).

• .- Chapter 1: Flowering time: a target trait to enhance agricultural productivity.- Chapter 2: Post-translational modifications in regulating flowering time.- Chapter 3: Hormonal and molecular regulation of root characteristics in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to abiotic stress .- Chapter 4: Understanding intricacies of stamen development pathways holds key to trait manipulation for hybrid seed production.- Chapter 5: Bioengineering photosynthesis to drive crop improvement: Engineering carbon-concentrating mechanisms, Kranz anatomy, chloroplast mimics, and new cellular compartments.- Chapter 6: Advancements in carbon concentrating mechanisms and synthetic pathways to enhance photosynthetic efficiency in C3 plants.- Chapter 7: Quantum dots and photosynthesis.- Chapter 8: Molecular cues of phytohormone-mediated modulation of plant abiotic stress responses.- Chapter 9: Plant hormones and abiotic stress response.- Chapter 10:Nature’s own engineers: Role of rhizosphere-microbiome to confer resistance to host plants against drought and salinity.- Chapter 11:Strategic manipulation of pathogen recognition receptors in plants for efficient perception of fungal pathogens: benefits and risks.- Chapter 12:Plant immunity inducers: discovery and delivery for crop protection    .- Chapter 13:Engineering artificial miRNAs to prime defence responses against plant pests and pathogens       .- Chapter 14:Genetic and molecular basis of cytoplasmic male sterility and fertility restoration in crop plants     .- Chapter 15:Space plant biology-growing crops beyond planet earth.