Dr. Dhanwinder Singh appointed as Head, Dept of Soil Science at PAU
Babushahi Bureau
Ludhiana, March 31, 2023: Dr. Dhanwinder Singh has been appointed as Head, the Department of Soil Science, at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). Dr Dhanwinder Singh obtained his B Sc. (Agri.) from Khalsa College, Amritsar and M Sc. (Soils) from PAU, Ludhiana.
He joined PAU, Ludhiana as Assistant Soil Chemist in April 1990 and was awarded New Zealand Commonwealth Scholarship -1993 for pursuing Ph.D. (Soil Science) at Lincoln University, Canterbury New Zealand.
After successfully completing their Ph.D., he joined back the department as Assistant Soil Chemist and was promoted to Principal Soil Chemist in April 2007.
Dr. Dhanwinder Singh has handled twelve research projects as Principal Investigator (PI)/Co-PI. He has published 77 peer-reviewed research papers, two review papers, seven book chapters, two bulletins/manuals and seven popular articles.
The major area of his research interest is soil and water pollution for sustainable management of these natural resources in Punjab. One of the projects he is working with is “Improving Soil Health and Strategies to Reduce Soil, Air and Water Pollution for Swasth Bharat” a PURSE project funded by DST, New Delhi.
He has worked on surface and groundwater pollution. One of his recent studies conducted on river water quality indicated that Sutlej River is more polluted in comparison to Beas. Irrigation water quality index (IWQI) for Beas and after confluence waters remained consistent, while for Sutlej River, it deteriorated during 2004-2020.
He has also worked on nutrient indexing of different crops and fruit trees. He has developed DRIS norms for various crops such as rice, sugarcane, cotton, guava, and mango. Besides, he has guided nine M.Sc. and one Ph.D students as Major Advisor. Based on their M.Sc. work, two of his students got funding for their Ph.D.(Soil Science) overseas, one at The University of Sydney, Australia and second at the University of Delware, USA.
He was also instrumental in equipping NRM Lab of the department of Soil Science with ICAP-MS, ICP-OES, AAS, auto-analyzer, CNS Analyzer and GHG Lab with Gas Chromatograph and UV-Vis Spectrophotometer.
As an Environment Safeguards Nodal Officer of the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP), he was one of the key persons involved in preparing the document for the “Green and Clean Campus Award 2020-21”.
The PAU bagged the first prize for Green and Clean Campus Award after a close pan-India contest among the eligible institutes.